History:
Timeline for the History of Judaism

History: Table of Contents | Ancient Jewish History | Modern Jewish History

Dawn of History
(3800-2001 BCE)

October 7, 3761	The beginning date of the Hebrew calendar, according to scholar Rabbi Yossi ben Halafta, a 2nd century Rabbi. Adam & Eve created (Year 1 of Jewish calendar).
3630	Seth born
3525	Enosh born
ca. 3500	Chalcolithic Period, first settlement
3435	Kenan born
3365	Mehalalel born
3300	Yered born
3300	First confirmed settlement of Gaza at Tell as-Sakan
3138	Enoch born
3074	Methusaleh born
2886	Lemech born
2831	Adam dies
ca. 2800	Early Dynastic period (Akkad)
2704	Noah born
ca. 2700-2400	Old Kingdom period (Egypt)
ca. 2500-2200	Ebla flourishes
ca. 2500	First houses built in Jerusalem
ca. 2300-2200	Priestess Enheduanna, first known author in the world
2203	Shem born
2150	The Flood
2100-1700	Middle Kingdom period (Egypt)

[expand/decrease]

---

Ancient Israelite Religion
(2000-587 BCE)

2000-1750	Old Babylonian period
2000-1700	Israel's Patriarchal period
ca. 1900-1400	Old Assyrian period
1882	Terach born
1813	Abraham born
ca. 1850/1750/1700	Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Ishmael, famine forces Israelites to migrate to Egypt
1800	First Jerusalem city wall built
ca. 1792-1750	Hammurabi
ca. 1750-1200	Hittite empire
1765	The Tower of Babel
1743	Origin of traditions of the "Abrahamic covenant"
1713	Isaac born; Abraham circumcises himself; Sodom & Gomorrah destroyed
ca. 1700-1550	Hyksos in Egypt
1677	Isaac prepared as sacrifice; Sarah dies
1653	Jacob born
1638	Abraham dies
ca. 1600-1150	Kassite period (Babylonia)
1590	Isaac blesses Jacob instead of Esau.
ca. 1570-1085	New Kingdom period (Egypt)
1569	Jacob marries Leah
1565	Levi born
1562	Joseph born
1546	Joseph sold into slavery
1533	Isaac dies
1532	Joseph becomes viceroy of Egypt
1523	Jacob and his family join Joseph in Egypt
ca. 1500-1200	Ugaritic texts
1452	Joseph dies
1429	Egyptian enslavement of the Hebrews begins
ca. 1400-900	Middle Assyrian period
ca. 1400-1300	Amarna period (Egypt)
1393	Moses born.
1355	Joshua born.
1314	Moses sees the burning bush.
ca. 1300-1200	Mosaic period (Israel)
1280	Exodus from Egypt, Sinai Torah, Canaan Entry
1240	After setting up the Ark at Shiloh near Shechem (Nablus), Joshua launches foray into Jerusalem (Joshua 10:23, 15:63)
ca. 1200	Sea Peoples invade Egypt and Syro-Palestine
ca. 1200-1050/1000	Period of the Judges (Israel)
ca. 1200-1000	Jerusalem is a Canaanite city
ca. 1150-900	Middle Babylonian period:
ca. 1106	Deborah judges Israel.
ca. 1100	The Philistines take over Gaza. They called it Philistia (from which the modern name Palestine is derived), and made it one of their civilization's most important cities.
ca. 1050-450	Hebrew prophets (Samuel-Malachi)
ca. 1000-587	Monarchical period in Israel
ca. 1030-1010	Saul (transitional king)
ca. 1010-970	David conquers the Jebusites and makes Jerusalem his capital
ca. 970-931	Solomon builds the First Temple on Mount Moriah
ca. 931	Secession of Northern Kingdom (Israel) from Southern Kingdom (Judah)
931-913	Rehoboam rules Judah
931-910	Jeroboam I rules Israel, choses Shechem as his first capital, later moves it to Tirzah
913-911	Abijah rules Judah
911-870	Asa rules Juda
910-909	Nadab (son of Jeroboam) rules Israel
909-886	Baasha kills Nadab and rules Israel
900-612	Neo-Assyrian period
886-885	Elah, son of Baasha, rules Israel
885	Zimri kills Elah, but reigns just seven days before committing suicide, Omri chosen as King of Israel
885-880(?)	War between Omri and Tibni
885-874	Omri kills Tibni, rules Israel
879	Omri moves capital of Israel from Tirzah to Samaria
874-853	Ahab, Omri's son, is killed in battle, Jezebel reigns as Queen. Athaliah, Ahab and Jezebel's daughter, marries Jehoram, crown prince of Judah
870-848	Jehoshapha rules Judah
853-851	Ahaziah, son of Ahab, rules Israel, dies in accident
750-725	Israelite Prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah
722/721	Northern Kingdom (Israel) destroyed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (10 lost tribes)
720	Ahaz, King of Judah dismantles Solomon's bronze vessels and places a private Syrian altar in the Temple
716	Hezekiah, King of Jerusalem, with help of God and the prophet Isaiah resists Assyrian attempt to capture Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32). Wells and springs leading to the city are stopped
701	Assyrian ruler Sennacherib beseiges Jerusalem
612-538	Neo-Babylonian (“Chaldean”) period
620	Josiah (Judean King) and “Deuteronomic Reforms”
ca. 600-580	Judean Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel
587/586	Southern Kingdom (Judah) and First Temple destroyed-Babylonian exile
ca. 550	Judean Prophet “Second Isaiah”
541	First Jews return from Babylon in small numbers to rebuild the city and its walls. Seventy years of exile terminated. (Daniel 9, Haggai 2:18-19)
539	Persian ruler Cyrus the Great conquers Babylonian Empire

[expand/decrease]

---

After the Babylonian Exile
(538 BCE-70 CE)

538-333 B.C.E.	Persian Period.
538 B.C.E.	Edict of Cyrus (first return from Exile).
520-515 B.C.E.	Jerusalem ("Second") Temple rebuilt.
520 B.C.E.	Judean Prophet Haggai.
500 B.C.E.	The notion of a Messiah, a political/military-religious/moral leader, develops.
450-400 B.C.E.	Reformation led by Ezra and Nehemiah.
ca. 450 B.C.E.	Torah (Pentateuch = first division of Jewish Scriptures) begins to gain recognition as Scripture.
438 B.C.E.	Achashverosh becomes king of Persia.
426 B.C.E.	First decrees by Haman; fast ordered by Esther, Haman's downfall and execution.
425 B.C.E.	Haman's ten sons executed; Purim celebration.
424 B.C.E.	Megillah recorded.
411 B.C.E.	Bagoas, a Persian, is made governor of Jerusalem.
333-63 B.C.E.	Hellenistic (Greek) period.
333/331 B.C.E.	Alexander the Great conquers the Land of Israel.
ca. 320-168 B.C.E.	Judaism under Greek Ptolemies & Seleucids.
ca. 250 B.C.E.	"Septuagint" translation of Torah into Greek.
ca. 230-146 B.C.E.	Coming of Rome to the east Mediterranean.
ca. 201 B.C.E.	Prophets (second division of Jewish Scriptures) recognized by some as Scripture
ca. 200 B.C.E.-135 C.E.	Jewish Qumran community.
175 B.C.E.	Selicid, king of Syria, plunders Jerusalem, murdering many.
166-160 B.C.E.	Jewish Maccabean revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple.
142-129 B.C.E.	Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans.
63 B.C.E.	Rome (Pompey) annexes the land of Israel.
66-73 C.E.	First Jewish Revolt against Rome.
69 C.E.	Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism.
70 C.E.	Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple.

[expand/decrease]

---

Rule of Rome
(230 BCE-400 CE)

ca. 230-146 B.C.E.	Coming of Rome to the east Mediterranean.
142-129 B.C.E.	Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans.
63 B.C.E.	Rome (Pompey) annexes the land of Israel.
37-4 B.C.E.	Herod the Great (Jewish Roman ruler of the land of Israel).
34 B.C.E.	Mark Antony deeds the city of Gaza to his lover, Queen Cleopatra.
37 B.C.E.	Herod captures Jerusalem, has Antigonus II executed, and marries the Hasmonean princess Mariamne I.
20 B.C.E.	Herod creates Temple Mount and begins to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Project continues until 72 C.E..
ca. 4 B.C.E.-ca. 30 C.E.	Joshua/Jesus “the Christ.”
MODERN ERA	Hillel & Shammai (Jewish sages).
6 C.E.	Rome establishes direct rule of prefects in Judea.
ca. 13 B.C.E.- 41 C.E.	Philo Judaeus of Alexandria.
ca. 30 C.E.	Jesus is crucified.
36-64 C.E.	Paul “the apostle” (Jewish “Christian”).
ca. 37-100 C.E.	Josephus (Jewish leader, historian).
ca. 40 C.E.	Gamliel/Gamaliel I (Jewish leader-scholar).
ca. 50-125 C.E.	Christian Testament (NT) writings.
66-73 C.E.	First Jewish Revolt against Rome.
69 C.E.	Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism.
70	Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple.
December 21, 72	Thomas the Apostle is murdered by Hindu priests of Kali.
73	Last stand of Jews at Masada.
ca. 90-100	Gamaliel II excludes sectarians (including Christians) from the synagogues.
ca. 90-150	Writings (third and last division of Jewish Scriptures) discussed and accepted as sacred scripture.
114-117	Jewish Revolts against Rome in Cyprus, Egypt and Cyrene. The Great Synagogue and the Great Library in Alexandria are destroyed as well as the entire Jeiwsh community of Cyprus. Afterwards, Jews were forbidden on Cyprus.
120-135	Rabbi Akiva active in consolidating Rabbinic Judaism.
132-135	Bar Kokhba rebellion (Second Jewish Revolt). Roman forces kill an estimated half a million Jews and destroy 985 villages and 50 fortresses.
136	Hadrian renames Jerusalem Aelia Capatolina and builds a Pagan temple over the the site of the Second Temple. He also forbids Jews to dwell there. Judea (the southern portion of what is now called the West Bank) was renamed Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel.
138-161	Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's sucessor, repeals many of the previously instituted harsh policies towards Jews.
193-211	Roman emperor Lucious Septimus Severus treats Jews relatively well, allowing them to participate in public offices and be exempt from formalities contrary to Judaism. However, he did not allow the Jews to convert anyone
ca. 200	Mishnah (Jewish oral law) compiled/edited under Judah the Prince.
200-254	Origen (Christian scholar, biblical interpreter).
203	Because of his health, Judah HaNasi relocates the center of Jewish learning from Beth Shearim to Sepphoris.
212	Roman Emperor Caracalla allows free Jews within the empire to become full Roman citizens.
220	Babylonian Jewish Academy founded at Sura by Rab.
220-470	Amoraim, or Mishna scholars, flourish. The Amoraim's commentary, along with the Mishna, comprises the Talmud.
222-235	Emperor Alexander Severus allowed for a revival of Jewish rights, including permission to visit Jerusalem.
240-276	Rise of Mani/Manichaean World Religion synthesis.
ca. 250	Babylonian Jews flourish (as does Manichaeism) under Persian King Shapur I
250-330	Early development of Christian monasticism in Egypt.
263-339	Eusebius (Christian author, historian)
303	Violent persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian.
To 311	Sporadic persecution of Christianity by Rome.
306	One of the first Christian councils, the Council of Elvira, forbids intermarriage and social interaction with Jews
312/313	Emperor Constantine embraces Christianity, announces Edict of Toleration
315	Code of Constantine limits rights of non-Christians, is Constantine's first anti-Jewish act.
368	Jerusalem Talmud compiled.

[expand/decrease]

---

Rabbinic Period of Talmud Development
(70 BCE-500 CE)

66-73	First Jewish Revolt against Rome.
69	Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism.
70	Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple,
73	Last stand of Jews at Masada.
ca. 90-100	Gamaliel II excludes sectarians (including Christians) from the synagogues.
ca. 90-150	Writings (third and last division of Jewish Scriptures) discussed and accepted as sacred scripture.
114-117	Jewish Revolts against Rome in Cyprus, Egypt and Cyrene. The Great Synagogue and the Great Library in Alexandria are destroyed as well as the entire Jeiwsh community of Cyprus. Afterwards, Jews were forbidden on Cyprus.
120-135	Rabbi Akiva active in consolidating Rabbinic Judaism.
132-135	Bar Kokhba rebellion (Second Jewish Revolt). Roman forces kill an estimated half a million Jews and destroy 985 villages and 50 fortresses.
136	Hadrian renames Jerusalem Aelia Capatolina and builds a Pagan temple over the the site of the Second Temple. He also forbids Jews to dwell there. Judea (the southern portion of what is now called the West Bank) was renamed Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel.
138-161	Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's sucessor, repeals many of the previously instituted harsh policies towards Jews.
193-211	Roman emperor Lucious Septimus Severus treats Jews relatively well, allowing them to participate in public offices and be exempt from formalities contrary to Judaism. However, he did not allow the Jews to convert anyone
ca. 200	Mishnah (Jewish oral law) compiled/edited under Judah the Prince.
203	Because of his health, Judah HaNasi relocates the center of Jewish learning from Beth Shearim to Sepphoris.
212	Roman Emperor Caracalla allows free Jews within the empire to become full Roman citizens.
220	Babylonian Jewish Academy founded at Sura by Rab.
220-470	Amoraim, or Mishna scholars, flourish. The Amoraim's commentary, along with the Mishna, comprises the Talmud.
222-235	Emperor Alexander Severus allowed for a revival of Jewish rights, including permission to visit Jerusalem.
ca. 250	Babylonian Jews flourish (as does Manichaeism) under Persian King Shapur I.
306	One of the first Christian councils, the Council of Elvira, forbids intermarriage and social interaction with Jews.
315	Code of Constantine limits rights of non-Christians, is Constantine's first anti-Jewish act.
359	Hillel creates a new calendar based on the lunar year to replace the dispersed Sanhedrin, which previously announced the festivals.
368	Jerusalem Talmud compiled.
370-425	Hillel founds Beit Hillel, a school emphasizing tolerance and patience. Hillel, a descendant of King David, is one of the first scholars to devise rules to interpret the Torah.
410	Rome sacked by Visigoths.
425	Jewish office of Nasi/Prince abolished by Rome.
426	Babylonian Talmud compiled.
439	Theodosis enacts a code prohibiting Jews from holding important positions involving money. He also reenacts a law forbidding the building of new synagogues.
500	Babylonian Talmud recorded. After conquering Italy in 493, Ostrogoth king Theodoric issues an edict safeguarding the Jews and ensuring their right to determine civil disputes and freedom of worship.

[expand/decrease]

---

Consolidation & Dominance of Christianity
(325-590 CE)

325	Christian First Ecumenical Council, at Nicea (Asia Minor), changes the date of Easter from Passover and forbids Jews from owning Christian slaves or converting pagans to Judaism.
330	Jerusalem becomes part of Constantine's Byzantine Empire.
ca. 325-420	Jerome (Christian author, translator).
339	Constantine forbids intermarriage with Jews and the circumcision of heathen or Christian slaves, declaring death as the punishment.
354-430	Augustine (Christian author in North Africa).
359	Hillel creates a new calendar based on the lunar year to replace the dispersed Sanhedrin, which previously announced the festivals.
368	Jerusalem Talmud compiled.
370-425	Hillel founds Beit Hillel, a school emphasizing tolerance and patience. Hillel, a descendant of King David, is one of the first scholars to devise rules to interpret the Torah.
380/391	Christianity becomes THE religion of Roman Empire.
401	Christianity takes root in Gaza thanks to Bishop Porphyry.
410	Rome sacked by Visigoths.
415	St. Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, champions violence against the city's Jews and incites the Greeks to kill or expel them. Some Jews return within a few years, but many return only after the Muslims conquer Egypt.
425	Jewish office of Nasi/Prince abolished by Rome.
426	Babylonian Talmud compiled.
439	Theodosis enacts a code prohibiting Jews from holding important positions involving money. He also reenacts a law forbidding the building of new synagogues.
451	Christian Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon.
500	After conquering Italy in 493, Ostrogoth king Theodoric issues an edict safeguarding the Jews and ensuring their right to determine civil disputes and freedom of worship.
501	An earthquake hits Israel, partially destroying Acre and incuring damage as far east as Jersusalem.
511	Rebellion leader Mar Zutra usurps power from Kobad the Zenduk, establishing an independant Jewish state in Babylon that would last for seven years, until Zutra's forces defeated Zutra's army, killing him and instituted a harsh policy toward the remaining Jews.
516	Southern Arabian king Ohu Nuwas adopts Judaism, possibly as a rampart against the spread of Christianity. King Eleboas of Abyssinia, with the help of Justin I, later defeated Nuwas.
519	After Ravenna residents burnt down local synagogues, Ostrogoth ruler Theodoric orders the Italian town to rebuild the synagogues at their own expense.
587	Recared of Spain adopts Catholicism, banning Jews from slave ownership, intermarriage and holding positions of authority. Recared also declares that children of mixed marriages be raised Christian.
570	Birth of Prophet Muhammad, Makkah.
590	Pope Gregory the Great formulates the official Papal policy towards Jews, objecting to forced baptism and tolerating them according to the previous council's regulations.

[expand/decrease]

---

Development of Muhammad's Islamic Message
(570-1258 CE)

ca. 570-632	Muhammad ("the Prophet" of Islam).
ca. 610	Prophetic call and start of Quranic revelations.
614	Persian invasion, Jews allowed to controll Jerusalem.
617	Persians change policy toward Jews, forbid them from living within three miles of Jerusalem.
622	The hijra (emigration) from Mecca to Medina.
624-627	Muhammad attacks Jewish Arabian tribes for refusing to convert to Islam. Eventually the Southern Arabian tribes are destroyed.
626	While proselytizing Arabia, Muhammad captures the Banu Kurara tribe and forces the group of about 600 to chose between conversion and death. After spending all night praying, all but three or four Banu Kurarans are beheaded.
627-629	Emperor Heraclius breaks his promise of protection to Jews, massacring any he found and forbidding them from entering Jerusalem. Hundreds of Jews were killed and thousands exhiled to Egypt, ending the Jewish towns in the Galilee and Judea. Heraclius' decree remained in effect until the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.
630	Capitulation of Mecca, rededication of Kaba.
632	The Jewish tribe Kaibar defends itself against Muslim forces, negotiating a settlement in which half of their crops would go to Mohammed in exchange for peace. Other Jewish tribes, including Fadattr, Tedma and Magna reached similar deals.
590-604	Pope Gregory the Great.
ca. 600-1300	Period of the Jewish Rabbinic Geonim.
632-661	Muhammad dies, creating the four "rightly guided caliphs" of Islam.
634	Gaza becomes the first city in Palestine to be captured by Muslims. Many Christians and Jews remained despite the Muslim takeover.
637	Muslim forces capture Caesarea, forcing the city's estimated 100,000 Jews to follow the Pact of Omar, which meant they had to pray quietly, not build new synagogues and not prevent Jews from converting to Islam. The Jews were also forbidden from riding horses and holding judicial or civil posts, and were forced to wear a yellow patch for identification.
638	Caliph Umar conquers Jerusalem and Jews are permitted to return to the city under Islam.
661	Assassination of Ali (last of the four).
661-750	Umayyad Dynasty of Islam in Damascus (Syria).
669, 674	Muslim Attacks on Christian Constantinople.
680	Massacre of Ali's son Husayn and Shiites (Iraq).
685	Muslims extend Jerusalem and rebuild walls and roads.
692	Dome of the Rock built on site of First and Second Temples by Caliph Abd el-Malik.
November 9, 694	The 17th Council of Toledo convenes, passing a wide-ranging array of restrictions on the local Jewish community.
711	Muslim Forces Attack Spain Successfully.
715	Al-Aqsa Mosque built, Jerusalem.
732	Islam repulsed at Tours (France), gateway to Europe.
750	Abbasid caliphate founded.
ca. 760	Karaism founded (Jewish reaction to Rabbinic Judaism).
762	Baghdad founded by Abbasids.
767	Anan Ben David, organizer of the Karaite sect that only believed in the literal Biblical writings and not the Oral law.
742-814	Charlemagne, French Holy Roman Emperor, protected and helped develop Jewish culture in his kingdom, seeing Jews as an asset.
740-1259	Jewish Kingdom of Khazar lasts over 500 years, defending itself from the Muslims, Byzantines and Russians, finally subdued by Mongols under Genghis Khan.
750-1258	Abbasid Dynasty of Islam in Baghdad (Iraq)—the "golden age" of Islamic culture.
?-767	Abu Hanifa (Muslim theologian and jurist in Iraq).
710-795	Malik ibn Anas (jurist, collector of hadiths, Medina).
800	Caliph Harun al-Rashid rules in "1001 Nights" style.
ca. 800-950	Mutazilite rationalism developed and debated.
807	Harun Al Rashid, Caliph of the Abbasids forces Baghdad Jews to wear a yellow badge and Christians to wear a blue badge.
825	Caliph Mamun sponsors translations of Greek learning into Arabic (Arabic science flourishes).
814-840	Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pius, who succeeded his father as king, expanded his father's positive policies towards the Jews, like changing "market day" from Saturday (Shabbat) to Sunday.
855	Ibn Hanbal (jurist, collector of hadiths, Baghdad).
868	Palestine annexed to Egypt.
870, 875	Bukhari and Muslim (collectors of hadiths).
874	Shiite "twelvers" arise.
?-935	Al-Ashari (ex-Mutazilite Muslim scholar).
882-942	Saadia Gaon (Rabbinic Jewish sage).
942	Office of the Exilarch was abolished after seven centuries, primarily because of dissention with the Muslims. David ben-Zaccai held the postion.
922	Execution of Hallaj, radical Persian Muslim mystic/sufi.
ca. 950-1150	“Golden Age” in Spain (Islamic Umayyad dynasty).
969	Founding of Cairo (and soon thereafter Azhar University) by the Islamic Shiite Fatimid dynasty in Egypt.
969	Caliph al-Aziz defeated the Turkish princes at Ramleh, marking the beginning of Fatamid rule over Eretz-Israel.
972	Al-Azhar University Founded, Cairo.
ca. 1000	Rabbi Gershon of Mainz, Germany, publishes a ban on bigamy. This marks the beginning of Ashkenazi (Franco-German) halachic creativity.
1001	Ibn al-Bawwab produces earliest exist Qur'an copy on paper, Baghdad.
990-1055	Diplomat and poet, as well as vizier to King Habus of Granada and author of a Biblical Hebrew dictionary, Samuel Ibn Nagrela.
1008	Egyptian Caliph Hakkim, who claimed to be divine, pressured all non-Muslims to convert and forced all Jews to wear a "golden calf" around their necks.
1009	Oldest existing text of full Hebrew Bible is written.
1016	Earthquake causes structrual damage on Temple Mount.
1021-1069	Messianic poet and philosopher, Solomon Ibn Gabirol.
1027	Samuel Hanagid becomes vizier of Granada. He is the first of the poets of the Golden Age of Spain, and symbolic of both the political power and literary creativity of Jews in Spain at the time.
1032	Rebel Abul Kamal Tumin conquered Fez and decimated the Jewish community, killing 6,000 Jews.
1066	Final split ("schism") between Latin (Roman) and Greek (Byzantine) Classical Christian Churches: 1053/54 William the Conqueror (Norman) takes England.
1056	Abraham Ibn Daud: On Saumuel Ha-Nagid, Vizier of Granada.
1040-1105	Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac; Jewish sage): .
1058-1111	Ghazali (Persian Muslim scholar and mystic): .
1065-1173	Benjamin of Tudela, Jewish traveller and historian, who wrote a famous journal called Sefer Hamassa'ot (Book of Travels).
1070	Rashi, a French-Jewish thinker, completes his commentaries on most parts of the Bible.
1070-1139	Poet and philiospher Moses Ibn Ezra.
1071	Seljuk occupation of Jerusalem.
1099	First Crusade Begins rule in Jerusalem.
1100	The Crusaders seize Gaza from the Fatimid Caliphs, returning it to Christian rule.
1181	Philip expels Jews from France.
1187	Salah al-Din returns Jerusalem to Muslim rule.
1192	Philip expands his kingdom and allows Jews to return, for a fee and under strict conditions.

[expand/decrease]

---

Medieval Period in the West
(600-1500 CE)

610	Visigothic ruler Sesbut prohibits Judaism after several anti-Jewish edicts are ignored. Exiled Jews return to Byzantine Spain under Sesbut's successor, Swintilla.
614	Persian General Romizanes captures Jerusalem and allows Jews to run the city. At this time, aproximately 150,000 Jews are living in 43 settlements in Eretz-Israel.
617	The Persians renege on their promises and forbid Jews to settle within a three mile radius of Jerusalem.
638	Although Chintilla decrees that only Catholics are permitted to live in Visogoth Spain, many Jews continue to live there.
638	Islamic conquest of Jerusalem.
682	Visigoth King Erwig continues oppression of Jews, making it illegal to practice any Jewish rites and pressing for the conversion or emigration of the remaining Jews.
691	First account of Jews in England.
712	Jews help Muslim invaders capture Spain, ending Visogoth rule and beginning a 150 year period of relative peace, in which Jews were free to study and practice religion as they wished.
722	In the wake of a narrow military defeat over Muslim forces, Leo III of Constantinople decided his nation's weakness lay in its heterogenious population, and began the forcible conversion of the Jews, as well as the "New Christians." Most converted under Leo III clandestinely continued their Jewish practices.
1040	Birth of Rashi.
1066	In the wake of the Norman conquest of England, Jews left Normandy and settled in London and later in York, Norwich, Oxford, Bristol and Lincoln.
1078	Pope Gregory VII prohibited Jews from holding offices in Christendom.
1086-1145	The greatest Hebrew poet of his time, Judah Halevi.
1090	Iban Iashufin, King of the Almoravides, captured Granada and destroyed the Jewish community, the survivors fled to Toledo.
1095	Henry IV of Germany, who granted Jews favorable conditions whenever possible, issued a charter to the Jews and a decree against forced baptism.
1131	Birth of Rambam.
1171	In the town of Blois, southwest of Paris, Jews are falsely accused of committing ritual murder ((killing of a Christian child) and blood libel. The adult Jews of the city are arrested and most are executed after refusing to convert. Thirty-one or 32 of the Jews are killed. The Jewish children are forcibly baptized.
1210	Group of 300 French and English rabbis make aliyah and settle in Israel.
1215	The Church's Fourth Lateran Council decrees that Jews be differentiated from others by their type of clothing to avoid intercourse between Jews and Christians. Jews are sometimes required to wear a badge; sometimes a pointed hat.
1227-1274	Christian theologian, who called for the slavery of all Jews, Saint Thomas Aquinas.
1229	King Henry III of England forced Jews to pay half the value of thier property in taxes.
1242	Burning of the Talmud in Paris.
1244	Tartars capture Jerusalem.
1253	King Henry III of England ordered Jewish worship in synagogue to be held quietly so that Christians passing by do not have to hear it. e also ordered that Jews may not employ Christian nurses or maids, nor may any Jew prevent another from converting to Christianity.
1254	French King Louis IX expelled the Jews from France, ending the Tosaphists period. Most Jews went to Germany and further east.
1255	Seeing himself as the "master of the Jews," King Henry II of England transferred his rights to the Jews to his brother, Richard, for 5,000 marks.
1267	In a special session, the Vienna city council forced Jews to wear the Pileum cornutum, a cone-shaped headress prevelent in many medieval woodcuts illustrating Jews. This form of distinctive dress was an additon to badge Jews were forced to wear.
1267	Ramban (Nachmanides) arrives in Israel.
1275	King Edward of England banned usury and unsuccessfully encouraged Jews in agriculture, crafts and local trades. He also forced Jews over the age of seven to wear an indentifying badge.
1282	The Archbishop of Canterbury, John Pectin, ordered all London synagogues to closed and prohibited Jewish physicians from practicing on Christians.
1285	Blood libel in Munich, Germany results in the death of 68 Jews. An additional 180 Jews are burned alive at the synagogue.
1287	A mob in Oberwesel, Germany kills 40 Jewish men, women and children after a ritual murder accusation.
1290	Bowing political pressure, English King Edward I expels the Jews from England. They were only allowed to take what they could carry and most went to France, paying for thier passage only to be robbed and cast overboard by the ship captains.
1306	Philip IV orders all Jews expelled from France, with their property to be sold at public auction. Some 125,000 Jews are forced to leave.
1321	Similar to accusations made during the Black Plague, Jews were accused of encouraging lepers to poison Christian wells in France. An estimated five thousand Jews were killed before the king, Philip the Tall, admitted the Jews were innocent.
1321	Henry II of Castile forces Jews to wear yellow badges.
1322	Charles IV of France expels all French Jews without the one year period he had promised them.
1348-1349	Much of Europe blames the Black Plague on the Jews and tortured to confess that they poisoned the wells. Despite the pleas of innocence of Pope Clement VI, the accusations resulted in the destruction of over 60 large and 150 small Jewish communities.
1348	Basle burns 600 Jews at the stake and forcibly baptizes 140 children, expelling the city's other Jews. The city's Christian residents convert the synagogue into a church and destroy the Jewish cemetery.
1348	Pope Clement VI issues an edict repudiating the libel against Jews, saying that they too were suffering from the Plague.
1360	Samuel ben Meir Abulafia is arrested and tortured to death by King Pedro without any explination. The king also confiscated his great wealth.
1385-1386	German Emperor Wenceslaus arrests Jews living in the Swabian League, a group of free cities in S. Germany, and confiscates their books. Later, he expelled the Jews of Strassburg after a community debate.
1386	Emperor Wenceslaus expelles the Jews from Strassbourg and confiscate their property.
1389	After a priest was hit with some sand from a few small Jewish boys playing in the street, he insisted that the Jewish community was plotting against him and began a virulent campaign against the city's Jews, resulting in the massacre of thousands and the destruction of the city's synagogue and Jewish cemetery. King Wenceslaus refused to condemn the act, insisting that the responsibility lay with the Jews for going outside during the Holy Week.
1389	Pope Boniface continues the policy of Clement VI, forbidding the Christians to harm Jews, destroy their cemeteries or forcibly baptize them.
1391	Ferrand Martinez, archdeacon of Ecija, begins a campaign against Spanish Jewry, killing over 10,000 and destroying the Jewish quarter in Barcelona. The campaign quickly spreads throughout Spain, except for Granada, and destroys Jewish communities in Valencia and Palma De Majorca.
1391	King Pedro I orders Spain not to harm the remaining Jews and decrees that synagogues not be converted into churches.
1392	King Pedro I announces his compliance with the Bull of Pope Boniface IX, protecting Jews from baptism. He extends this edict to Spanish Jewish refugees.
1415	Benedict XIII bans the study of the Talmud in any form, institutes forced Christian sermons and tries to restrict Jewish life completely.
1420	Pope Martin V favorably reinstates old privleges of the Jews and orders that no child under the age of 12 can be forcibly baptized without parental consent.
1420	All Jews are expelled from Lyons, including the refugees from Paris who were expelled 20 years earliers. Jews now only remain in Provence (until 1500) and in the possessions of the Holy See.
1422	Pope Martin V issues a bull reminding Christians that Christianity was derived from Judaism and warns the Friars not to incite against the Jews. The Bull was withdrawn the following year, alleging that the Jews of Rome attained the Bull by fraud.
1480	Inquisition established in Spain.

[expand/decrease]

---

The Crusades
(1095-1258 CE)

1096	Participants in the First Crusade massacre Jews in several Central European cities, beginning centuries of pogroms linked to the Crusades.
1096	More than 5,000 Jews were murdered in Germany in several different attacks.
May 3, 1096	Count Emico of Leiningen, on his way to join a Crusade, attacked the synagogue at Speyers and killed all the defenders.
May 27, 1096	1,200 Jews commit suicide in Mayence to escape Count Emico, who tried to forcibly convert them.
1085-1140	Judah Halevi (Jewish author).
1099	Crusaders (European Christians) capture Jerusalem and massacre tens of thousands of the city's Jews.
1100	Germans, including German Jews, migrate to Poland. It is seen as “the land of opportunity.”
1107	Moroccan Almoravid ruler Yoseph Ibn Tashfin orders all Moroccan Jews to convert or leave.
1109	Tiberias falls to the Crusaders.
1115	After reconquering Toledo, Spain from the Muslims, Alphonso I invited all Jews to return.
1120	Jews from Muslim countries begin to settle in Byzantium.
1124	Records of a Jewish gate in Kiev attest to the presence of a Jewish community there.
1135-1204	Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon; Jewish scholar).
1139	Judah Halevi completes his influential philosophy of Judaism known as The Kuzari. He is a friend of commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra, who also left Spain for the life of a wandering Jewish scholar.
1143	150 Jews killed in Ham, France.
1144	Jews in Norwich, England, are accused of murdering a Christian child in what is believed to be the first ritual murder charge. The blood libel, as well as others in England that follow in the 12th century, incites anti-Jewish violence.
1160-1173	Benjamin of Toledo, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Toledo.
1163	Benjamin of Toledo writes of 40,000 Jews living in Baghdad, complete with 28 synagogues and 10 Torah academies.
1171	Saladin (1138-1193) overthrows Fatimid dynasty in Egypt.
1187	Saladin recaptures Jerusalem from Crusaders grants Jews permission to re-enter.
March 16, 1190	Jews attacked, over 150 die after a six day standoff in York, England.
1190	Approximately 2,500 Jews live in England, enjoing more rights than Jews on the continent.
1191	French King Phillip starts the Third Crusade, cancels debts to Jews, drives many Jews out of France, confiscates their property.
1194-1270	Scholar and Jewish leader Moses Ben Nachman (Nachmanides).
1195	Moses Maimonides completes The Guide to the Perplexed, considered the most important work of medieval Jewish thought.
1211	A group of 300 rabbis from France and England settle in Palestine (Eretz Yisrael), beginning what might be interpreted as Zionist aliyah.
1198-1216	Pope Innocent III (Christian).
1204	First synagogue built in Vienna, a city where Jews enjoyed more freedom than in other areas of Austria.
1215	Fourth Lateran Council expands anti-Jewish decrees in Europe, forces Jews to wear the Yellow Patch, the "Badge of Shame.
1222	Deacon Robert of Reading, England, was burned for converting to Judaism, setting a precedent for the burning of "heretics".
1222	Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury and a prime mover of the Lateran Council, forbids Jews from building new synagogues, owning slaves or mixing with Christians.
ca. 13th cen.	The Zohar (a Jewish kabbalistic book): .
1227	Death of Genghis Khan (roving Mongol conqueror).
ca. 1230	Inquisition by Christians in Spain.
1232	The Jewish community of Marrakech, Morocco, is reestablished, leading to massacres of Jews caused by Islamic political revolt and grassroots hatred.
1239	Pope Gregory IX orders the kings of France, England, Spain and Portugal to confiscate Hebrew books, Following this edict, the Talmud is condemned and burned in France and Rome.
1225-1274	Thomas Aquinas (Christian scholar).
1240-1292	Spanish Kabbalist Abraham Abulafia.
1243	First accusation of desecration of the Host (the wafers used is Christian Mass) - the blood libel - in Berlitz, Germany.
1244-1517	Rule by Tartars, Mongols, Ayybids, and Mamelukes.
1247	Pope Innocent IV issued a Bull refuting blood libels and sent it throughout Germany and France.
1254-1517	Mamluk Islamic rule (new dynasty) in Egypt.
1258	Fall of Islamic Abbasid dynasty to Hulagu (Mongol).

[expand/decrease]

---

Transition & Rebuilding of Political Islam
(1258-1500 CE)

1258	Mongols sack Baghdad.
1260	Mongols led by Hulagu Khan overrun Gaza, they are beaten back by Egyptian Mamluk General Baibars. Gaza becomes the capital of a Mamluk Province.
1278	The Edict of Pope Nicholas III requires compulsory attendance of Jews at conversion sermons.
1286	Moses de Leon of Spain completes a commentary of the Torah. The Zohar remains a central text of Jewish mysticism.
1290/1291	Expulsion of Jews from England.
1291	Expulsion of Christian Crusaders from Syria.
1348	Black Death reaches Europe.
July 6, 1348	Pope Clement VI clarifies that the Jews are not behind the Black Death, tells Christians not to blame Jews for the disease sweeping Europe.
1445	Gutenberg prints Europe's first book with movable type.
1453	Ottomans begin rule from Constantinople.
1492	The Alhambra Decree ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Castile and Aragon, Spain. The edict was not formally revoked until December 16, 1968.
1492	End of Muslim states in Spain.
1492	Columbus sets sail.

[expand/decrease]

---

Mamluk Rule
(1291-1516 CE)

1300-1517	Italian Renaissance.
1306-1394	Expulsions of Jews from France.
1328-1384	John Wycliffe (Christian dissident leader).
14th century	Rise of the Ottoman Muslim dynasty in Turkey.
1333	Casimir the Great takes power in Poland and brings with him a sympathetic attitude toward the Jews, who benfit as a result.
September 30, 1338	The Deggendorf Massacre. Residents of Deggendorf, Germany, burned the homes of and massacred the town's approximately 50 Jews.
1348	Black Death reaches Europe and Jews are accused of poisoning Christian wells.
1336-1405	Timurlane/Tamurlane, Turkic ruler in central Asia.
1360	King Pedro of Portugal arrests and tortures to death Samuel Ben Meir Abulafia. No charges were ever given and the King confiscated Abulafia's lands and great wealth.
1400	Damascus sacked by Timurlane.
1424	Jewish physician, Y'en Ch'eng is given the surname "Chao" as an honor by the Emperor. This family, which probably originated in India and Babylon, became on of the leading Chinese Jewish families.
1437-1509	Philosopher, financier and scholar, Don Isaac Abarbanel intercedes many times on behalf of his fellow Jews, including trying to stop Ferdinand from expelling them. This time he was foiled by Torquemada and he followed them into exile. His commentaries cover the major and minor Prophets. Consistent with his belief that the Messiah would come in his lifetime, he also wrote three messianic texts called Migdal Yeshu'ot (Tower of Salvation).
1452-1454/55	Gutenberg prints Europe's first book with movable type.
1447	Following a fire in Posen where the original charter (written by Casimir the Great) granted the Jews "privileges," Casimir IV renews all their rights and makes his charter one of the most liberal in Europe. This charter lasted less than a decade before it was revoked.
1452-1515	Astronomer and historian, Abraham Zacuto creates tables used by Columbus. After the explusion of 1492, Zacuto went to Portugal where he developed the metal Astrolab used by Vasco Da Gama. In 1498 he was forced to flee or convert. He left and reached Tunis where he wrote a history of the Jews from creation until the sixteenth century.
1453	Fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) to Ottoman Muslims.
1454	Casimir IV of Poland revokes the Jewish charter, at the insistence of Bishop Zbignev. The Bishop had correctly predicted Casimir's defeat by the Teutonic Knights backed by the Pope, and succeeded in convincing the King that it was due to the Jews.
1463	Pope Nicholas V authorized the establishment of the Inquisition to investigate heresy among the Marranos.
1479-15	Isabella's severe anti-Jewish learnings influence Ferdinand and lead to the final expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
1486	First prayer book published in Soncino, Italy.
1488	The first complete edition of the Hebrew Bible is printed in Soncino, Italy.
1492	Christian expulsion of Muslim Moors from Spain.
1492	Columbus sets sail.
1492	Christian expulsion of Jews from Spain, sending over 200,000 Jews fleeing: 137,000 Jews forced to leave Sicily.
1494	Polish King Jan Olbracht's orders Jews to leave to leave Crakow for Kazimierz after they are blamed for a large fire that destroyed part of the city.
1496	Manuel of Portugal expels Jews from Portugal.
1516	The closed Jewish Quarter in Venice, Italy, is dubbed the Geto Nuovo (New Foundry). "Geto" will later become the basis for the word "ghetto".
1516	The Ottoman's fight the Mamluks out of Gaza, Gaza is ruled for the next 100 years by the Ridwan family.
1505-1584	Kabbalist and author of "Lecha Dodi" (Come My Beloved), Solomon ben Moses Alkabetz.

[expand/decrease]

---

Christian Reformation Period
(1517-1569 CE)

1510	38 Jews were burned at the stake in Berlin.
1516	Jews in Venice are relegated to a ghetto, the most extreme segregation to which Jews had been submitted. Over time, Jews in many lands are similarly segregated.
1483-1546	Martin Luther.
1517	Luther posts "95 theses" in Wittenburg, Germany
1520-1579	Cracow Rosh Yeshiva whose major work was an adaptation of Caro's Shulchan Aruch to Europoean Jewry, Moses Isserles.
1525-1609	Brilliant Talmudist, mathematician and astronomer, popular with Emperor Randolh II. Judah Loew Ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague also created the Golem, a man from clay who protected the Jewish community.
1534	First Yiddish book published in Cracow, Poland.
1534-1572	Talmud and Kabbalah scholar, Isaac Ben Solomon Luria, given the name "The Ari" (The Lion).
1543	Luther writes "About the Jews and Their Lies," considered the first modern anti-Semitic tract.
ca. 1500-1650	Protestant Christian Reformation.
1509-1564	John Calvin.
1516	Jewish ghetto instituted in Venice.
1526	The Prague Haggadah, which contains the oldest known printed Yiddush poem, is published.
November 22, 1547	Jews in the small community of Asolo, Italy were victims of a massacre, leaving 10 of the 37 Jewish residents dead.
1547	Ivan the Terrible becomes ruler of Russia and refuses to allow Jews to live in his kingdon.
1555	Jewish ghetto instituted in Rome.
1559	Pope Paul IV allows the first printing of the Zohar, a Jewish mystical text.
1567/1571	Shulhan Arukh (code of Jewish law by Joseph Caro).published.
1569	Isaac Luria writes the Kabbalist in Safed. Luria's ideas give rise to a new form of Jewish mysticism.

[expand/decrease]

---

Dominance of Ottoman Muslim Empire
(1500-1920 CE)

1517	Victory of (Muslim Ottoman Turk) Selim I over Egypt.
	Ottoman Muslim rulers (later) claim the title "caliph".
1520-1566	Sulayman I, "the Magnificent," rules.
ca. 1500-1800	Dominance of Safavid Shiite Muslim dynasty in Iran.
ca. 1500-1800	Dominance of Mughal Muslim dynasty in India.
1550-1619	Rabbi, preacher and biblical commentator known for his brilliant sermons calling for self improvement, Ephraim Solomon of Lunshits.
1550	Dr. Jospeh Hacohen was chased out of Genoa for practicing medicine, and soon after, all the Jews were expelled.
1553	Under the direction of Cardinal Caraffa, later Pope Paul IV, the Talmud was confiscated and publicaly burned in Rome on Rosh Hashanah, starting a wave of Talmud burning throughout Italy.
1554	Cornelio da Montalcino, a Franciscan Friar who converted to Judaism, is burned alive in Rome.
1555	In his Bull Cum Nimis Absurdum, Pope Paul IV renewed all anti-Jewish legislation and installed a ghetto in Rome. The Bull also forced Jews to wear a special cap, forbade them from owning real estate or practicing medicine on Christians. It also limited Jewish communities to only one synagogue.
1555-1631	Talmudic commentator, author of Chidushei Halachot, Samuel Eliezer Aidles, also known as "Maharsha." .
1558	In Recanti, Italy, under the protection of Pope Paul IV, Joseph Paul More, a baptized Jew, entered a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and tried to preach a conversion sermon. The congregation evicted him and a near massacre occured. Soon after, the Jews were expelled from Recanti.
1585	First known Jew to step on American soil, Joachim Gaunse (Ganz), lands on Roanoke Island.
1596-1650	Rene Descartes (scholar-philosopher): .
1564	In Brest Litovsk, the son of a wealthy Jewish tax collector, is accused of killing the family's Christian servant for ritual purposes. He is tortured and killed.
1566	Three months into his reign, Pope Pius V rejects Pope Pius IV leniency towards Jews and reinstates the restrictions of Pope Paul IV which forced Jews to wear a special cap, forbade them from owning real estate or practicing medicine on Christians. It also limited Jewish communities to only one synagogue.
1569	Brest Litovsk welcomes Jewish settlement. In 80 years the Jewish population surges from 4,000 to more than 50,000.
1586	Pope Sixtus V rejects Pope Gregory XIII policies and forbids Jews from living in the Papal states and to print the Talmud.
1587-1643	The leading Jewish composer of the late Italian Renaissance and the musical director of court of Mantua, Salamone de Rossi.
1588	England defeats the Spanish Armada, weakening Spain and decreasing the reach of the Inquisition, espcially in the Netherlands.
1590	Built of wood, the entire Jewish quarter of Posen burned while then gentile population watched and pillaged. 15 people died and 80 Torah scrolls were burned.
1591	Rabbi, encyclopedist, physician and pupil of Galileo, Jose Solomon Delmedigo wrote over 30 works in math, geometry, chemistry, mechanics, philosophy and medicine.
1592	Esther Chiera, who held considerable influence in Sultan Murad III's court, was executed because of jealousy and the Sultan's desire for her assets.
1593	Pope Clement VIII expelled Jews from all Papal states except Rome and Ancona.
1596	Official Yom Kippur services are held for the first time in Amsterdam, though not without controversy.
1603	Frei Diogo Da Assumpacao, a partly Jewish friar who embraced Judaism, was burned alive in Lisbon. His arguments against Christianity were published and gained wide popularity.
1605	A Jesuit missionary in China meets with Al T'Ien, a Chinese Jewish teacher. Thier correspondence is the basis for most known information regarding the Kaifeng Jewish community.
1605-1657	Menasseh ben Israel (Jewish scholar-mystic).
1612	The Hamburg Senate decides to officially allow Jews to live in the city on the condition there is no public worship.
1614	Vincent Fettmilch, who called himself the "new Haman of the Jews," led a raid on a Frankfurt synagogue that turned into an attack which destroyed the whole community.
1615	King Louis XIII of France decreed that all Jews must leave the country within one month on pain of death.
1615	The Guild, led by Dr. Chemnitz, "non-violently" forced the Jews from Worms.
1616	The Bishop of Speyer, with the backing of Frederick's troops, readmitted the Jews to Worms.
February 28, 1616	Vincenz Fettmilch, the leader of a popular uprising targetting Jews in Frankfurt, Germany, is executed along with six of his companions.
1616	Holland's Prince Maurice of Orange allowed each each city to decide for itself whether to admit Jews. In the towns where Jews were admitted, they would not be required to wear a badge of any sort identifying them as Jews.
1616	Jesuits arrives in Grodno, Poland and accused the Jews of blood orgies and host desecrations.
1618-1638	Thity Years War between Catholics and Protestants centers around Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands.
1619	Shah Abbasi of the Persian Sufi Dynasty increased persecution against the Jews forcing many to outwardly practice Islam. (Many secretly practiced Judaism.).
1620	Christian Puritans begin emigrations to America.
1621	Sir Henry Finch, legal advisor to King James I, makes the first English call to restore the Jews to their homeland in his treatise The World's Great Restoration or Calling of the Jews.
1621-1663	Well-known commentator of the Shulchan Aruch and author of several other works, Shabbetai Ben Meir Hacohen.
1622-1629	Persian Jews are forced to convert to Islam.
1623-1662	Blaise Pascal (scholar).
1625	The Jews of Vienna were forced to move into a ghetto called Leopoldstadt.
1625	Pope Urban VIII forbids Roman Jews to erect gravestones.
1626-1676	Shabbatai Zvi (Jewish “messianic” leader).
1630-1703	Financier and founder of the Viennese Jewish community, Samuel Oppenheimer.
1632	Miguel and Isabel Rodreguese and five others were burned alive in front of the King and Queen of Spain after being discovered holding Jewish rites.
1632-1677	Baruch/Benedict Spinoza (scholar, converted Jew).
1636	Rhode Island grants religious liberty to Jews.
1639	More than 80 New Christians (Jews who converted to Christianity) were burned at the stake after the Inquisition caught them holding regular Jewish services in Lima, Peru.
1641-1718	Shabbtai Ben Joseph the Bass, Author of Seftai Yesharim, the first bibliography of Hebrew books and biblical commentator. He also built a printing house in 1689, despite being jailed several times, accused of printing anti-Christian material. The printing house lasted more than 150 years.
1642	The first Jewish colony in the New World is established in Recife, Brazil.
1642	Chao Ying-Cheng helped rebuild the synagogue in Kai Fen after the Yellow River flooded the area. He also served in the goverrnment and helped build schools and squashed marauding bandits.
1648	Bogdan Chmelnitzki massacres 100,000 Jews in Poland.
1648	The Treaty of Westphalia brings victory to the Protestants.
1649	In the largest Auto de Fe ever held in the New World, 109 crypto-Jews were accused of Judaizing, several were burned alive.
1649	John Casimir, upon ascending the Polish throne, negotiates a truce with Cosack leader and murderer of thousands of Jews, Bogdan Chmelnitzki.
1654	Arrival of 23 Jews from Brazil in New Amsterdam (New York, America).
1655	Dutch West India Company allows Jewish settlers to reside permanently in New Amsterdam.
1655	Jews readmitted to England by Oliver Cromwell.
1657	The first Jews gain the rights of citizens in America.
1670	Jews expelled from Vienna.

[expand/decrease]

---

Jewish Contemporary Period
(1700-1917 CE)

1700-1760	Israel Baal Shem Tov (founder of Jewish Hasidism).
1700	Jewish population in America numbers approximately 250.
1703-1758	Jonathan Edwards (American Christian preacher).
1703-1791 and 1707-1788	John and Charles Wesley (Christian).
1712	First public Jewish synagogue in Berlin.
1724	Death of Samson Wertheimer
1730	Jews build first North American synagogue in Lower Manhattan, Shearith Israel.
1740	England grants naturalization rights to Jews in the colonies.
ca. 1750	Wahhabi "fundamentalist" movement arises in Islam.
1753	Parliament extends naturalization rights to Jews resident in England.
1761	First English prayer book for High Holidays is published in New York.
1763	The Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, dedicate a Sephardic synagogue, designed by leading Rhode Island architect Peter Harrison.
July 17, 1764	Poland's Parliament centralizes power and aboloshes the Council of the Four Lands, a semi-autonomous Jewish governing body.
1768-1828	"Father of Reform [Judaism]," Israel Jacobson.
1775	Pius VI issues Editto sopra gli ebrei, "Edict over the Hebrew," suppressing the Jewish religion.
1775	Frances Salomon elected to South Carolina Provisional Congress; the first Jew to hold elected office in America.
1776	United States Declaration of Independence.
1775-1854	America merchant and philanthropist Judah Touro, funded first New Orleans synagogue.
1729-1786	Moses Mendelssohn (Jewish "enlightenment" scholar).
1762	Although usually considered more liberal than other states, Rhode Island refuses to grant Jews Aaron Lopez and Isaac Eliezer citizenship stating "no person who is not of the Christian religion can be admitted free to this colony."
1765	Portugal holds the last public Auto de Fe "Act of Faith," a ceremony where the Inquisition announces its punishments, usually a death sentence of burning at the stake.
1769-1821	Napoleon (France).
1775-1781	American Revolution; religious freedom guaranteed.
1781	Joseph II of Austria recinds the 513-year old law requiring Jews to wear distinctive badges.
1781	Haym Solomon, a Polish Jew who arrived in New York in 1772, helps raise funds to finance the American cause in the Revolutionary War.
1781-1869	American philanthropist Rebecca Gratz.
1782	Austrian Emperor Joseph II issued his edict of tolerance, allowing Jews to practice their religion freely.
1783	The Sultan of Morocco expells the Jews for the third time in recent years after they failed to pay an exorbitant ransom.
1785-1851	Zionist author, journalist and and diplomat, Mordechai Manuel Noah.
1788	Ratification of the U.S. Constitution means Jews may hold any federal office.
1789	French Revolution.
1784-1885	Leading Jewish philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore, createed numerous agricultural settlements in Eretz Israel.
1789	Gershom Mendes Seixas, minister of New York's Jewish congregation, is invited to Washington's inaugural.
1790	Jews of Newport, Rhode Island welcome President George Washington. George Washington writes letter to Jewish community proclaiming religious liberty.
September 27, 1791	French Jews granted full citizenship for the first time since the Roman Empire.
1791	Tsarist Russia confines Jews to Pale of Settlement, between the Black and Baltic Seas.
1795	First American Ashkenazi synagogue, Rodeph Shalom, is established in Philadelphia.
1796	The Netherlands grants citizenship to Jews.
1798	Napoleon, battle of the Pyramids in Islamic Egypt.
1799	Napoleon's army moves from Egypt, capturing Gaza and Haifa and gets as far north as Akko which is successfully defended by the British.
1801-1804	Muslim Wahhabis capture Mecca & Medina, raid Karbala.
1801	The first American Jewish orphan care society established in Charleston, South Carolina.
1804-1881	English Statesman Benjamin Disraeli.
1808	Polonies Talmud Torah, the first Jewish school on record in the United States established in New York.
1811-1884	"Brains of the Confederacy," Judah P. Benjamin.
March 11, 1812	Prussia's Edict of Emancipation grants citizenship to Jews.
1812-1875	Moses Hess, author, socialist and Zionist.
1813	President Madison appoints Mordechai Noah as consul to Tunis and then rescinds the appointment when the Tunisians object to dealing with a Jew.
1814	King Ferdinand VII of Portugal reestablishes the Inquisition six years after it was abolished by Joseph Boneparte
March 29, 1814	Denmark grants citizenship to Jews.
1818-1883	Although born a Jew, he converted to Protestantism and later became the father of Communism, Karl Marx.
mid-19th century	Rise of the Jewish Reform movement in Europe (Abraham Geiger.)
1819	Rebecca Gratz establishes the first independent Jewish women's charitable society in Philadelphia.
1819-1900	Head of the American Reform movement and founder of Hebrew Union College and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Isaac Mayer Wise.
1820 (ended in 1834)	A royal decree officially abolished the Spanish Inquisition.
1821-1891	Well-known physician and early Zionist, Leon Pinsker.
1823	The Monroe Doctrine closes the American continent to foreign colonization.
1823	The first American Jewish periodical, The Jew, published in New York.
1824	Society of Reformed Israelites is established in Charleston.
1825	Mordechai Emmanual Lassalle led a failed movement to colonize New York's Grand Island for Jewish refugees.
1826	In the last known Auto Da Fe, in Valencia, Spain, a poor school master was executed for adhering to Judaism.
1827	Reinterpretation of Russia's Conscription Law mandates 31 years of military service for Jews, beginning at age 12.
1830	French occupation of Muslim Algiers.
1830	German Jews begin to immigrate to America in substantial numbers.
November 30, 1830	Greece grants citizenship to Jews.
1830-1903	Jewish Impressionist painter, whose works focused on the streets of Paris and landscapes, Camille Pissarro.
1831	Louis Philippe of France grants state support to synagogues.
1831	Belgium grants citizenship to Jews.
1831	Although Jews had been living in Jamaica since 1655, they are finally given the right to vote.
1831-1896	Banker and philanthropist, who donated millions of dollars to Jewish organizations and attempted to resettle Eastern European and Russian Jews by estabishing the Jewish Colonial Association (JCA), Baron De Hirsch.
1832	Canada grants Jews political rights.
1833	The first book by an American Jewish woman, Penina Moise's Fancy's Sketch Book, published in South Carolina.
1837	An earthquake in Tzfat and Tiberias kills four thousand people and damages monuments and archeological sites.
1837	First Passover Haggadah printed in America.
1838	Rebecca Gratz establishes Hebrew Sunday School in Philadelphia.
1840	Jews are accused of murdering a Franciscan friar in the Damascus blood libel.
1840	First organized movement by American Jewry to protest false accusations of blood libel in Damascus, Syria.
1840	The first Hebrew printing press in India is established.
1840s	The use of the word "Jew" as a verb comes into popular parlance in North America. "To Jew" means to strike a bargain or employ questionable business practices, according to this prejudicial usage.
1841	David Levy Yulee of Florida elected to the United States Senate, the first Jew in Congress.
1843	B'nai B'rith is organized, the first secular Jewish organization in the United States.
1844	Lewis Charles Levin was the first Jew elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
1845	Isaac Leeser publishes his translation of the Pentateuch from the Hebrew into English.
1845-1934	Zionist leader Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.
1847	London elects its first Jewish member of Parliament, Baron Lionel Nathan Rothschild. However, he cannot be seated as a member of Parliament because he will not swear the oath of office, which affirms Christianity as the true faith.
1847-1915	Author, scholar and leader of the American Conservative movement, Solomon Schechter.
1848	In every part of Germany, excluding Bavaria, Jews had been granted granted civil rights, allowing Gabriel Riesser, a Jewish advocate, to be elected vice-president of the Frankfurt Vor Parliament and to become a member of the National Assembly. The civil rights, however, existed on paper only and were not enforced.
1849-1887	American poet whose "New Colossus" was inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: Emma Lazerus.
1852	Mount Sinai, the first Jewish Hospital in the United States is founded by a group of mostly German Jewish immigrants.
September 1, 1852	An anti-Jewish riot erupts in Stockholm, Sweden.
1852	The Ghetto of Prague is officially abolished.
1852-1870	Reign of Napoleon III of France.
1853	Isaac Leeser publishes his translation of the Bible into English, the first complete Anglo-Jewish translation of the Pentateuch.
1855	First acknowledged non-Muslim visitor permitted to enter Temple Mount since 1187 CE.
1856	Sabato Morais, rabbi of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, denounces the evils of American slavery from his pulpit.
1858	Edgar Mortara, an Italian Jewish child, is abducted by Papal Guards and placed in a monastery.
1859-1916	"Yiddish Mark Twain," famed novelist, Shalom Alechem Rabinowitz.
1859-1941 (Reign 1888-1918)	Kaiser William II of Germany.
1860	First neighborhood, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, built outside Jerusalem's walls.
1860	Frenchman Adolohe Cremieux launches the Alliance Israelite Universelle to defend Jewish rights and establish worldwide Jewish educational facilities.
1860-1904	Father of Zionism, Theodore Herzl.
1860-1911	Major modern Jewish composer of nine symphonies, Gustav Mahler.
1860-1945	Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, the Amerian Woman's Zionist Organization.
1860	Morris Raphall is the first rabbi to offer prayers at the opening session of Congress.
1861	Norway allows Jews to enter the country.
1861	Judah Benjamin becomes attorney general of the Confederacy, the first Jew to hold a cabinet-level office in any American government.
1861-1865	1,200 Jews fought for the Confederacy and 6,000 for the Union, including nine generals and 21 colonels in the American Civil War.
1861-1936	Essayist and publicist who headed the Jewish and Zionist Organization during the 1930s, was editor of He-Tsefriah and published a history of Zionism, Nahum Sokolow.
1862	Moses Hess writes Rome and Jerusalem.
1862	General Ulysses S. Grant expels Jewish civilians issues General Order No. 11 expelling the Jews "as a class" from the area under the jurisdiction of the Union army in his military department.
1862	Jacob Frankel is appointed first Jewish chaplain in the United States Army.
1864	Leon Pinsker writes Autoemancipation and argues for creation of a Jewish state.
1866	Jews become a majority in Jerusalem.
1866	Switzerland, a hotbed of anti-Jewish edicts grants Jews equal rights only after threats by the United States, France and Britain.
1867	First rabbinical school in America, Maimonides College, is founded in Philadelphia.
1867	The original Ku Klux Klan is organized to maintain "white supremacy".
1867	Hungary passes legislation emancipating the Jews.
1867	German journalist Wilhelm Marr publishes a popular book, The Victory of Judaism over Germanism. He coins the word "antisemitism" so that Judenhass, or Jew-hatred, can be discussed in polite society.
1868	Benjamin Disraeli becomes prime minister of Great Britain — and the first prime minister of Jewish descent in Europe.
1869	Suez Canal opens.
1869	Italy grants emancipation to Jews.
1870	Sweden grants citizenship to Jews.
1870	Ghettos abolished in Italy.
1870	The Edict of Pope Nicholas III which required compulsory attendance of Jews at conversion sermons since 1278 is abolished.
1871	First Yiddish and Hebrew newspaper in America is published.
1871	The the first American kosher cookbook, Jewish Cookery Book, by Esther Jacobs Levy is published.
1871	Great Britain grants full emancipation to Jews.
January 12, 1871	A new German constitution gives German Jews full legal equality.
1873	Reform Judaism in U.S. establishes Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1873-1934	Poet laureate of the Jewish national movement, authored "In City of Slaughter," "El Ha Tsippor-To the Bird" and "Metai Midbar-Dead of the Desert, Hayim Nahman Bialik.
1873-1956	Leading theologian of the Reform movement, refused to escape Nazi Germany and spent five years in Terezin (Theresienstadt) concentration camp, Leo Baeck.
1874	Jews in Switzerland receive full rights of citizenship under the new constitution.
1874-1926	Eric Weiss, better known as Harry Houdini, the master escape artist, was born into an orthodox home.
19th-20th centuries	Young Men's Hebrew Associations in New York and Philadelphia become prototypes for the more than 120 YMHAs established throughout the US in the next 15 years. In the 20th century, many of these evolve into Jewish Community Centers.
1874-1952	Statesman and scientist Chaim Weizmann.
1875	Isaac Mayer Wise founds Hebrew Union College, the rabbinical seminary of the Reform movement, in Cincinnati.
1877	New Hampshire becomes the last state to offer Jews political equality.
1878	Petah Tikvah (Gate of Hope) founded as agricultural colony by orthodox Jews. Although it was abandoned in 1881 after Arab attacks, it was reestablished in 1883 after the First Aliyah.
1878	The antisemitic German Christian Social Party is founded by Adolf Stoecker, a court chaplain. The party demands that Jews convert to Christianity.
December 22, 1878	Birthdate of Myer Prinstein, a world-record setting, Olympic gold medal winning Jew from Poland.
1879-1955	Zionist, physicist, Nobel Prize winner and discoverer of the special and general theory of relativity Albert Einstein.
March 28, 1880	Birthdate of Jewish actor Louis Wolheim.
May 1, 1880	Albert Lasker, the “father of modern advertising,” is born in Freiburg, Prussia.
1880-1920	Zionist leader Joseph Trumpeldor.
1880-1939	Zionist leader, founder of the New Zionist Organization, Haganah, Jewish Legion, Irgun, Betar, Revisionist Party, Vladimir Jabotinsky.
1881	Ottoman government announces permission for foreign (non-Ottoman) Jews to settle throughout Ottoman Empire.
1881	Start of mass migrations of eastern European Jews.
1881	French occupation of Muslim Tunisia.
1881	Samuel Gompers founds the Federation of Unions, the forerunner of the American Federation of Labor.
1881	May Laws restricting the movements and conduct of Jews are enacted in Russia.
1881	The word "pogrom" enters the English language, as Russian mobs begin a series of violent attacks against Jews and their property.
1882	British occupation of Muslim Egypt.
1882	First halutz (pioneering) movement, Bilu, founded in Kharkov Russia.
1882	Ottoman government adopts policy to allow Jewish pilgrims and business-people to visit Palestine, but not settle.
1882	Hibbat Tzion societies founded.
November 15, 1882	Associate Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter is born.
1884	First Conference of Hovevei Zion Movement.
1884	Ottoman government closes Palestine to foreign (non-Ottoman) Jewish business, but not to Jewish pilgrims.
1885	Reform Jewish Pittsburgh Platform.
1885-1962	Scientist who developed the theory on the nature of the atom, rescued from Nazi Germany, Neils Bohr.
1885	Sir Nathaniel Meyer Rothschild becomes the first Jew in England's in the House of Lords. The Christian oath was amended so that non-Christians could also serve in the House of Lords.
1886-1929	Philosopher, author, helped create the Free Jewish House of Study in Frankfurt, Franz Rosenweig.
1886	Etz Chaim, the first yeshiva for Talmudic studies in the United States, established in New York.
1886-1973	Statesman David Ben-Gurion.
March 24, 1887	Oscar Straus is named the U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire, the second Jew in U.S. history to reach a position of that caliber.
1887	Jewish Theological Seminary opens in New York and, later, becomes the intellectual center of the Conservative movement.
1887-1990	Famous artist Marc Chagall.
1888	Jewish Publication Society of America is founded to publish English books of Jewish interest.
1888	European powers press Ottoman government to allow foreign (non-Ottoman) Jews to settle in Palestine provided they do not do so en masse.
1888-1970	Hebrew novelist and Nobel prize winner, Samuel Joseph Agnon.
1889	The Educational Alliance founded on the Lower East Side to assist Eastern European immigrants.
April 20, 1889	Adolf Hitler is born in Braunau am Inn, Austria.
October 2, 1890	Jewish comedian Groucho Marx is born. Along with his brothers he formed the group “the Marx Brothers”, and performed in vaudeville stage acts. The brothers were also pioneers of modern cinema and television.
February 10, 1890	Boris Pasternak, the man who would win the Nobel Prize in literature for his novel Dr. Zhivago, is born. .
1891	Grand Duke Segai orders the expulsion of 14,00 Jewish families living in Moscow. Those who refuse to convert or become prostitutes are sent to the Pale of Settlement.
1891	Christian Zionist William E. Blackstone and 413 prominent Americans petition President Benjamin Harrison to support resettlement of Russian Jews in Palestine.
1891	Baron de Hirsh donates 2 million pounds and establishes the Jewish Colonial Association in order to resettle 3 million Russian Jews in agricultural areas in other countries.
1892	Workmen's Circle established to promote Yiddishist and socialist ideas among the masses of Jewish laborers.
1892	American Jewish Historical Society established.
1892	Ottoman government forbids sale of state land to foreign (non-Ottoman) Jews in Palestine.
1893	National Council of Jewish Women founded in Chicago.
1893	Kosher ritual slaughter banned in Switzerland.
1894	French general staff officer Alfred Dreyfus is sentenced to life on Devil's Island in the Dreyfus Affair.
1894	Sholem Aleichem begins writing the first episode of the life of Tevye the Dairyman.
1894-1917	Last Russian Czar, commissioned what became the anti-Semitic "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," Nicholas II.
1894-1943	Artist known for his passionate and often disturbing use of color and form, Chaim Soutine (Smiliouchi).
1895	Lillian Wald founds Henry Street Settlement.
1896	Theodor Herzl publishes Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State (Zionism): .
August 29, 1897	First Jewish Zionist congress convened by Theodor Herzl in Basle, Switzerland, Zionist Organization Founded.
1897	Yiddish Socialist Labor party (the Bund) is founded in Russia.
1897	Abraham Cahan founds leading Yiddish newspaper, Jewish Daily Forward in New York.
1897	The Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), later part of Yeshiva University, begins training Orthodox rabbis.
February 23, 1898	Emile Zola is convicted of libel for defending Dreyfus.
1898	Eastern European immigrants organize a Union of Orthodox Congregations, whose viewpoint clashes with that of the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC).
1898-1936	Perhaps the greatest composer of the 20th century, whose works include "Rhapsody in Blue," George Gershwin.
1898-1978	Fourth Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir.
1898	Acting on behalf of Col. Dreyfus, Emile Zola publishes J'Accuse.
1898	A section of the Old City Wall is removed to facilitate the entrance of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and his entourage on his visit to Jerusalem.
1899-1902	The term "concentration camp" is coined by the British during the Boer War to denote holding areas for potentially threatening Afrikaners (descendents of Dutch who immigrated to South Africa in the mid-1800s).
1899	Emile Zola wins a new trial for Alfred Dreyfus, and despite new charges, Dreyfus is aquitted and promoted to Major.
1899	Theodor Herzl establishes the Jewish Colonial Trust, the financial arm of the Zionist movement.
1900-1990	American composer and conductor best known for "Appalachian Spring," "Billy the Kid" and "Rodeo," Aaron Copland.
early 20th century	Founding of the Modern Jewish Orthodox movement.
1901	The Industrial Removal Office, organized by several Jewish organizations, relocate Jewish immigrants from the Lower East Side to communities across the United States.
1901	The Fifth Zionist Congress decides to establish Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (KKL) - The Jewish National Fund.
1902	Theodor Herzl publishes a romantic utopian novel, Altneuland, Old-New Land, a vision of the Jewish State.
1902	Russian Jews organize U.S.-based Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to serve as counselors, interpreters, attorneys, etc.
1902-1979	Composer and partner of Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960), known for "Oklahoma!" and" South Pacific," Richard Rogers.
1902	Solomon Schechter comes from England to America to head the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Conservative Judaism's rabbinical seminary.
1903	British Government proposes "Uganda Scheme," rejected by the Sixth Zionist Congress.
1903	Kishinev massacre increases Jewish exodus from Russia.
1903	Oscar Straus is appointed Secretary of Commerce and Labor by President Roosevelt, the first Jew to serve in the U.S. Cabinet.
August 26, 1903	Herzl proposes Kenya as a safe haven for Jews.
1903-1907	500,000 Jews flee Russia, 90% go to the United States.
1904-1914	Second Aliyah, mainly from Russia and Poland.
1905	Gimnazia Herzilia, the first Hebrew high school, opens in Tel Aviv.
1905	Zionist Labor Party (Poale Zion) formed in Minsk in an effort to combine Zionism and Socialism.
1906	American Jewish Committee is founded to safeguard Jewish rights internationally.
early 20th century	Sholem Aleichem comes to New York from Russia to write for the American Yiddish theater. The musical Fiddler on the Roof is based on his story Tevye's Daughters.
1906	First Hebrew high school founded in Jaffa and Bezalel school founded in Jerusalem.
1907	Physicist Albert A. Michelson is first American Jew to win Nobel Prize.
1907	Adolf Hitler is rejected for study at the Vienna Academy of Art.
1908	Discovery of oil in Persia; leads to Anglo-Persian (later British Petroleum).
1908	Revolution by "young Turks" depose Sultan Abdul Hamid the Damned under Ottoman.
1908	Turkey grants Jews political rights.
1908	Hijaz Railway from Damascus to Medina.
1909	Julius Rosenwald, American merchant and philanthropist, converts Sears, Roebuck and Co. into the largest mail-order house in the world.
1908-1914	Second Yemenite Aliyah.
1909	First kibbutz, Degania, founded.
1909	Founding of Tel Aviv as Hebrew speaking Jewish city.
1909	Hashomer, the first Jewish self-defense organization is founded to replace Arab guards protecting Jewish settlements.
1911-1913	Russian neurologist Sikowsy testifies thet Jews use Christian blood for ritual purposes in the Beilis Trial (Russia).
1911-1986	Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Greenberg.
1911	A tragic fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York's Lower East Side kills 146 women, mostly Jews.
1911	Palestinan journalist Najib Nasser publishes first book in Arabic on Zionism entitled, "Zionism: Its History, Objectives and Importance." Palestinian newspaper Filastin begins addressing its readers as "Palestinians" and warns them about Zionism.
1913	In Russia, Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Jew, is put on trial for the ritual murder of a Christian boy. After two years followed by a "show trial," Beilis is acquitted.
1912	United States abrogates treaty of 1832 with Russia because of Russia's refusal to honor passports of Jewish Americans.
1912	Henrietta Szold founds Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization.
1912	Haifa's Technion is founded.
1912	Agudah (Agudat Israel) formed as the World Organization of Orthodox Jewry at Katowitz.
1912	12 of the 100 members of the Reichstag (German parliament) are Jewish.
1913	Trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta leads to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
1913	Solomon Schechter, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary, founds the United Synagogue of America (later the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism).
1913	First Arab Nationalist Congress meets in Paris.
1913-1993	Commander of the Etzel, statesman and Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin.
1914	Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers is established.
1914-1919	World War I.
1914	Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo prompting World War One.
1914	During First World War, Russian forces in retreat drive 600,000 Jews from their homes.
1914	American Jewish Relief Committee established to distribute funds to needy Jews; it later combined with other Jewish relief organizations to become the Joint Distribution Committee.
1914	The Ottoman empire enters the war on the side of Germany.
1915	Moses Alexander elected Governor of Idaho - the first Jew to win the governorship of an American state.
1915	MacMahon-Hussein correspondence.
1915	Zion Mule Corps established by Yosef Trumpeldor in British army.
1915	Avshalom Feinburg and Aaron Aaronsohn form NILI (Netzah Israel Lo Yeshaker), recruited to spy on the Turks for the British.
1915	The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is created in the wake of the Leo Frank Affair.
1915-1981	Moshe Dayan, Haganah fighter, Israeli minister of Defense.
1915	Leo Frank, a southern American Jew falsely convicted of murdering a 14 year-old girl is hung by a lynch mob.
October 30, 1915	Jewish television news pioneer Ferdinand "Fred" Friendly Wachenheimer is born.
1915-2005	Arthur Miller, American playwright whose works include, "Death of a Salesman," The Crucible" and "A View From the Bridge." .
January 28, 1916	Louis D. Brandeis is nominated to the Supreme Court by Woodrow Wilson. At the time of his nomination, the Senate had never before held a public hearing on a President's Supreme Court Nominee; they had all been confirmed on the day of their nomination. However, it took four months of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings until the Senate brought the nomination of Brandeis to a vote. Brandeis was confirmed as the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice in a Senate vote of 47 - 22 on June 1, 1916.
1916	Sykes-Picot Agreement divides Middle East into spheres of British and French influence.
1916	Start of Arab revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule.
1916	Louis Dembitz Brandeis is first Jew appointed to the Supreme Court.
1916	Germany accuses Jews of evading active service in WWI, despite 100,000 Jews serving, 12% higher than their population ratio.
1917	British capture Baghdad.
1917	Jewish Telegraphic Agency is founded.
1917	Four-hundred years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest.
1917	The Balfour Declaration favors Jewish Palestinian State.
1917	As WWI comes closer to Tel-Aviv and Jaffa, the Turkish Governer of Jaffa orders all Jews to leave Tel-Aviv and Jaffa.
1917	Jews granted full rights in Russia.
1917	Russian Revolution breaks out, heavy fighting in the South and West, where over 3 million Jews live. Over 2000 pogroms took place, claiming the lives of up to 200,000 Jews in the next three years.
1917	The United States declared war on Germany. Appoximately 250,000 Jewish soldiers (20% of whom were volunteers) served in the U.S. Army, roughy 5.7% while Jews only made up 3.25% of the general American population.
1917	The Jewish Welfare Board is created and serves the social and religious requirements of Jewish soldiers; expands after the war.
1917	355,000 people chose representatives for the first American Jewish Congress.
1917	Over 2,700 men volunteer for the new Jewish Legion of the British Army which fought in Transjordan, among other places.
1917	Vladamir Ilyich Lenin and Leon Trotsky ousted Kerensky and took over the Russian government.
1917	Surrender of Ottoman forces in Jerusalem to Allied Forces under General Sir Edmund Allenby.
1917	British forces land on the beaches of Gaza during WW1.

[expand/decrease]

---

Unrest & Realignment in the Middle East
(1914-1918 CE)

1916	Sykes-Picot Agreement divides Middle East into spheres of British and French influence.
1916	Start of Arab revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule.
1917	British capture Baghdad.
1917	Jewish Telegraphic Agency is founded.
1917	Four-hundred years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest.
1917	The Balfour Declaration favors Jewish Palestinian State.
1917	As WWI comes closer to Tel-Aviv and Jaffa, the Turkish Governer of Jaffa orders all Jews to leave Tel-Aviv and Jaffa.
1917	Jews granted full rights in Russia.
1917	Russian Revolution breaks out, heavy fighting in the South and West, where over 3 million Jews live. Over 2000 pogroms took place, claiming the lives of up to 200,000 Jews in the next three years.
1917	The United States declared war on Germany. Appoximately 250,000 Jewish soldiers (20% of whom were volunteers) served in the U.S. Army, roughy 5.7% while Jews only made up 3.25% of the general American population.
1917	The Jewish Welfare Board is created and serves the social and religious requirements of Jewish soldiers; expands after the war.
1917	355,000 people chose representatives for the first American Jewish Congress.
1917	Over 2,700 men volunteer for the new Jewish Legion of the British Army which fought in Transjordan, among other places.
1917	Vladamir Ilyich Lenin and Leon Trotsky ousted Kerensky and took over the Russian government.
1917	British General Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Turks, ending Ottoman rule.
1918	Damascus taken by T.E. Lawrence and Arabs.

[expand/decrease]

---

British Rule in Palestine
(1918-1947 CE)

.. ..... .

1918	Treaty of Versailles formally ends Word War I. Out of an estimated 1.5 million Jewish soldiers in all the armies, approximately 170,000 were killed and over 100,000 cited for valor.
1918	Damascus taken by T.E. Lawrence and Arabs.
1918	American Jewish Congress is founded.
Nov. 1918	Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates.
1918	Nahum Zemach founds the Moscow-based Habimah Theater which receives acclaim for “The Dybbuk.”
Jan. 5, 1919	The German Workers' Party (DAP) is founded in Munich; Adolf Hitler joins the Party nine months later.
April 5, 1919	35 Jews participating in a community meeting to discuss relief distribution from the United States were rounded up and massacred, suspected of being “Bolshevik plotters.” They were executed without question, or trial.
July 31, 1919	Holocaust surviror and author Primo Levi is born in Turin, Italy.
1919	Jewish educational summer camping is launched in the United States with what came to be known as the Cejwin Camps.
1919	Versailles Peace Conference decides that the conquered Arab provinces will not be restored to Ottoman rule.
1919	First Palestinian National Congress meeting in Jerusalem sends two memoranda to Versailles rejecting Balfour Declaration and demanding independence.
1919-1923	Romania grants citizenship to Jews.
1919	Egyptian revolution.
1919	Chaim Weizmann heads Zionist delegation at Versailles Peace Conference.
1919-1923	Third Aliyah, mainly from Russia.
1919	Emir Faisel wrote a letter to Felix Frankfurter supporting Zionism, “We Arabs...wish the Jews a most hearty welcome.”
1919-1943	Commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Mordechai Anilewicz.
1919	League of Nations established in an effort to prevent further wars.
1920	Histadrut (Jewish labor federation) and Haganah (Jewish defense organization) founded.
1920	Vaad Leumi (National Council) set up by Jewish community (yishuv)to conduct its affairs.
1920	Keren Hayesod created for education, absorbtion and the development of rural settlements in Eretz-Israel.
1920	Chaim Weizmann elected president of the World Zionist Organization.
1920	Fall of Tel Hai to Arab attackers; Joseph Trumpeldor and five men under his command killed.
1920	Mandate for the Land of Israel given over to Britain on the condition that the Balfour Declaration be implemented, San Remo Conference.
1920	Sir Herbert Samuel, British statesman, appointed High Commissioner of Palestine.
1920	Henry Ford's newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, begins publishing its anti-Semitic propaganda, including the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Feb. 24, 1920	The first mass meeting of the National Socialist Party (NSDAP) takes place at Munich's Hofbräuhaus.
April 1, 1920	Adolf Hitler is honorably discharged from the German Army.
1920	The San Remo Conference awards administration of the former Turkish territories of Syria and Lebanon to France, and Palestine, Transjordan, and Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Britain.
1920	Second and third Palestinan National Congress' held.
1921	The Times of London pronounces the PProtocols of the Elders of Zion a forgery.
1921	U.S. immigration laws “reformed” to effectively exclude Eastern European Jews and other immigrants. Further restrictions imposed in 1924.
1921	Fourth Palestinian National Congress, convenes in Jerusalem, decides to send delegation to London to explain case against Balfour.
1921	The Allied Reparations Committee assesses German liability for World War I at 132 billion gold marks (about $31 billion).
1921	The NSDAP, also known as the Nazi Party, establishes the Sturmabteilung (SA; Storm Troopers; Brown Shirts).
1921	Arab riots in Jaffa and other cities.
1921	Völkischer Beobachter (People's Observer), the official National Socialist newspaper, begins publication.
July 29, 1921	Adolf Hitler becomes the Nazi Party's first chairman with dictatorial powers.
1921	Kingdom of Iraq established.
1921	First moshav, Nahalal, founded in the Jezreel Valley.
1921	Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Ya'akov Meir are elected the first two cheif Rabbis of Eretz-Israel.
1921-1944	Famous Hungarian Jewish poet and paratrooper who fought in WWII, Hannah Szenes (Senesh).
1922	Britain granted Mandate for Palestine (Land of Israel) by League of Nations.
1922	Transjordan set up on three-fourths of the British mandate area, forbidding Jewish immigration, leaving one-fourth for the Jewish national home.
1922	Jewish Agency representing Jewish community vis-à-vis Mandate authorities set up.
1922	Mordecai M. Kaplan founds the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, the cradle of the Reconstructionist movement.
1922	The United States Congress and President Harding approve the Balfour Declaration.
1922	Supreme Muslim Council created under the jurisdiction of the British government to centralize religious affairs and institutions, but is corrupted by the overzealous Husseini family who used it as an anti-Jewish platform.
1922	Lenin creates the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
1922	Benito Mussolini establishes a Fascist government in Italy.
1922	Harvard's president proposes a quota on the number of Jews admitted. After a contentious debate, he withdrew the recommendation.
1922	League of Nations Council approves Mandate for Palestine.
1922	First British census of Palestine shows total population 757,182 (11% Jewish).
1922	Fifth Palestinian National Congress in Nablus, agrees to economic boycott of Zionists.
1922	Jungsturm Adolf Hitler (Adolf Hitler Boys Storm Troop) and Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler (Shock Troop Adolf Hitler) are established. The latter will form the nucleus of the Schutzstaffel (SS).
June 24, 1922	Walther Rathenau, Jewish foreign minister of Germany, is assassinated by members of Organisation Consul, a clandestine, right-wing political organization led by Captain Hermann Ehrhardt.
September 8, 1922	Jewish entertainer Sid Caeser is born.
Jan.1923	France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr after an economically broken Germany is unable to meet the annual installment of its war-reparations payments designed to pay off Germany's $31 billion war debt.
March 1923	The Schutzstaffel (SS; Protection Squad) is established. It is initially a bodyguard for Hitler but will later become an elite armed guard of the Third Reich.
1923	Palestine constitution suspended by British because of Arab refusal to cooperate.
1923	Overthrow of Ottoman Muslim rule by “young Turks” (Kemal Ataturk) and establishment of secular state.
1923	Sixth Palestinian national Congress held in Jaffa.
1923	The first issue of the pro-Nazi, antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer (The Attacker) is published in Nuremberg, Germany. Its slogan is "Die Juden sind unser Unglück" ("The Jews are our misfortune"), a phrase picked up from Heinrich von Treitschke.
Nov. 8-11, 1923	Hitler's so-called “Beer Hall Putsch” takeover attempt at Munich fails, temporarily rattling the National Socialist Party and leading to Hitler's arrest in Bavaria, Germany.
1923	Technion, first institute of technology, founded in Haifa.
1924-1932	Fourth Aliyah, mainly from Poland.
1924	Benjamin Frankel starts Hillel Foundation. The first Hillel House opens at the University of Illinois, offers religious and social services.
1924	Caliphate officially abolished.
February 29, 1924	Jewish MLB star Al Rosen is born.
March 8, 1924	Jewish sculptor Anthony Caro is born in England.
May 11, 1924	The first conference of the General Zionist movement is held in Jerusalem.
May 14, 1924	Ultra-Orthodox Jews found an agricultural settlement between Ramat Gan and Petah Tikva: Bnei- Brak.
1924	The United States Congress passes the Immigration Restriction Act, which effectively bans immigration to the U.S. from Asia and Eastern Europe.
July 1924	While in prison, Hitler begins work on Mein Kampf.
September 16, 1924	Birthdate of Lauren Bacall.
1925-1979	Pahlevi dynasty in Persia (“Iran”: 1935).
1925	Revisionist Movement founded by Zeev Jabotinsky.
1925	Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened on Mt. Scopus.
1925	Edna Ferber is the first American Jew to win Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
1925	Palestinian National Congress meets in Jaffa.
March 24, 1925	Publication of the pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer resumes after being banned by the Weimar government in November 1923.
April 26, 1925	Paul von Hindenburg is elected president of Germany.
1926	France proclaims Republic of Lebanon.
October 6, 1927	Warner Brothers releases The Jazz Singer, about a cantor's son who follows his dreams to Broadway against his father's wishes. This was the first "talking" movie ever made, and it is also famous for it's accurate portrayal of Jewish home life.
1928	Britain recognizes independence of Transjordan.
1928	Seventh Palestinian National Congress convened in Jerusalem; established a new forty-eight member executive committee.
1928	Yeshiva College is dedicated in New York.
February 11, 1928	Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in either house of the United States Congress, is born in Budapest, Hungary.
October 8, 1928	Jewish actor, producer, and director Larry Semon supposedly dies, but many believe he faked his own death to avoid creditors.
1929	2,000 Arabs attack Jews praying at the Kotel on the 9th of Av. Arabs view British refusal to condemn the attacks as support.
1929	Hebron Jews massacred by Arab militants.
1929-1945	Anne Frank, Holocaust victim whose diary, written during the Nazi Occupation became famous.
1929-1939	Fifth Aliyah, from Germany.
1930	Hope-Simpson report, predecessor to Passfield White Paper, recommends and end to all Jewish immigration to Eretz-Israel.
1930	Lord Passfield issues his White Paper banning further land acquisition by Jews and slowing Jewish immigration.
1930	Salo Wittmayer Baron joins the faculty of Columbia University, his is the first chair in Jewish history at a secular university in the United States.
1931	Etzel (the Irgun), Jewish underground organization, founded.
1930	Second British census of Palestine shows total population of 1,035,154 (16.9% Jewish).
1931	The Nahum Zemach-founded Moscow-based Habimah Theater which received acclaim for "The Dybbuk" moves to Eretz-Israel.
1932	'Abd al-Aziz Al Saud proclaims the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1932	British Mandate over Iraq terminated, Iraq gains independence.
1932	Discovery of oil in Bahrain.
1932	Herbert Lehman was elected New York's first Jewish governor; from that time on, Jews formed a pact with the Democratic Party.
1932	First Maccabia athletic games take place with representatives from 14 countries.
1932	German Chancellor von Papen persuaded President von Hindenburg to offer Hitler the chancellorship.
1932	Formation of Istiqlal Party as first constituted Palestinian-Arab political party; Awni Abdul-Hadi elected president.
April 21, 1933	Nazis outlaw Kosher slaughter of animals.
1933	Concession agreement signed between Saudi government and Standard Oil of California (SOCAL). Prospecting begins. SOCAL assigns concession to California Arabian Standard Oil Co. (CASOC).
1933	The American Jewish Congress declares a boycott on German goods to protest the Nazi persecution of Jews.
1933	Assassination of Chaim Arlozorov.
1933	Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
1933	Germany begins anti-Jewish boycott.
July 20, 1933	Cardinal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, signed the Hitler Concordat; whereby the Vatican accepted National Socialism.
1933	Albert Einstein, upon visiting the United States, learns that Hitler had been elected and decided not to return to Germany, takes up position at Princeton.
1933	Riots in Jaffa and Jerusalem to protest British "pro-Zionist" policies.
1934	In Afghanistan, two thousand Jews are expelled from towns and forced to live in the wilderness.
1934	American Jews cheer Detroit Tigers' Hank Greenberg when he refuses to play ball on Yom Kippur. In 1938, with five games left to the season, Greenberg's 58 home runs are two shy of Babe Ruth's record. When several pitchers walk him rather than giving him a shot at the record, many believe major league baseball did not want a Jew to claim that place in America's national sport.
1935	Jewish rights in Germany rescinded by Nuremberg laws.
1935	Hakibbutz Hadati, the religious kibbutz movement is founded.
1935	Regina Jonas was ordained by Liberal (Reform) Rabbi Max Dienemann in Germany, becoming the first woman rabbi.
1935	Ze'ev Jabotinsky founds the New Zionist Organization.
1935	Official establishment of the Palestine Arab Party in Jerusalem; Jamal al-Husseini elected president.
1936-1939	Anti-Jewish riots instigated by Arab militants.
1936	Supported by the Axis powers, the Arab Higher Committee encourages raids on Jewish communities in Eretz-Israel.
1936	Texaco buys 50% interest in California Arabian Standard Oil Co.'s concession.
1936	Leon Blum becomes the first Jew elected premier of France, enacts many social reforms.
1936	The first of the Tower and Stockade Settlements (Tel Amel) Nir David is erected.
1936	Syria ratifies the Franco-Syrian treaty; France grants Syria and Lebanon independence.
1936	World Jewish Congress convened in Geneva.
1936	Peel Commission investigated Arab riots, concluded Arab claims were "baseless".
March 9, 1936	The Przytyk Pogrom, in which 3 Jews were killed and 60 wounded.
October 4, 1936	The “Battle of Cable street” takes place in London.
1937	Reform Jewish Columbus Platform.
1937	British declare Arab Higher Committee in Palestine illegal and Mufti of Jerusalem escapes to Syria.
1937	The Peel Commission recommends the partition of Palestine between Jews and Arabs.
1937	Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion accept partition plan, despite fierce opposition at the 20th Zionist Congress.
1937	John Woodhead declares partition unworkable after Arab riots.
1937	Central conference of American Rabbis reaffirm basic reform philosophies in the Colombus Platform.
1938	Dammam Well No. 7 discovers commercial quantities of oil. Barge exports to Bahrain.
1938	Oil discovered in Kuwait.
Nov. 9, 1938	Kristallnacht — German Jewish synagogues burned down.
1938	Charles E. Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest, launches media campaign in America against Jews.
1938	The Dominican Republic is the only country out of 32 at the Evian Conference willing to help Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany.
Sept. 29, 1938	Chamberlain declares "peace in our time" after allowing Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in the Munich Agreement.
1938	Catholic churches ring bells and fly Nazi flags to welcom Hitler's troops in Austria.
1938	Hershel Grynszpan, 17, a German refugee, assassinates Ernst von Rath, the third secretary to the German embassy in Paris.
1938	More than 100,000 Jews march in an anti-Hitler parade in New York's Madison Square Garden.
1939	First tanker-load of oil is exported aboard D.G. Scofield.
1939	President Roosevelt appoints Zionist and Jewish activist Felix Frankfurter to the Supreme Court.
1939	Jewish immigration severely limited by British White Paper.
1939	S.S. St. Louis, carrying 907 Jewish refugees from Germany, is turned back by Cuba and the United States.
September 1, 1939	BBC News reports Germany has invaded Poland.
September 3, 1939	British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces that Britain is at war with Germany.
1939	Jewish songwriter Irving Berlin introduces his song "God Bless America." He also wrote "White Christmas".
October 14, 1939	Jewish fashion CEO and icon Ralph Lauren is born.
1940	Nazis establish ghettos in Poland.
1940	British government authorizes the Jewish Agency to recruit 10,000 Jews to form Jewish units in the British army.
1940	British refuse illegal immigrant ship, the Patria, permission to dock in Palestine.
1940	Chabad-Lubavitch purchases their iconic headquarters in New York City
June 14, 1940	The first train of prisoners arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only 20 people of these initial 700+ were Jewish.
September 24, 1940	The blatantly anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda film “Jud Suss” premieres in Berlin
1941	British and France guarantee Syrian independence.
1941	Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Lehi) or Stern Gang underground movement formed.
February 25, 1941	A 2-day strike begins in Amsterdam, in opposition to the anti-Jewish actions being taken by the Nazi occupiers.
May 15, 1941	Palmach, strike force of Haganah, set up.
May 20, 1941	Jewish commando David Raziel is killed by a German bomber while on a mission for the British in Iraq.
September 29, 1941	The Babi-Yar Massacre.
March 2, 1942	Jewish rock musician Lou Reed is born.
1942	Rabbi Stephen S. Wise publicizes Riegner report confirming mass murder of European Jews.
1942	Biltmore Conference of American Zionists.
1942	Nazi leaders refine the "Final Solution" -- genocide of the Jewish people -- at Wannsee Conference.
1943	Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
1943	Palmach parachutes into enemy lines in Europe.
1943	British deport illegal immigrants to Cyprus.
1943	Raphael Lemkin, an international lawyer who escaped from Poland to the U.S. in 1941, coins the term genocide to describe the Nazi extermination of European Jews.
1943	Zionist Biltmore Conference, held at Biltmore Hotel in New York, formulates new policy of creating a "Jewish Commonwealth" in Palestine and organizing a Jewish army.
October 6, 1943	Two days before Yom Kippur 1943, over 400 Orthodox Rabbis marched from Union Station to the Capital Building and White House in Washington D.C., calling for elected officials to increase the quota of Jewish refugees from Europe allowed in the U.S. The Rabbis also demanded the creation of a special federal agency tasked with the rescue of European Jewry.
November 18, 1943	The chief of the BBC orders his employees to downplay the attrocities of the Holocaust, warning them not to broadcast or publish anything that might try to “correct” anti-Semitic sentiments throughout Europe.
January 13, 1944	U.S. Treasury Dept. memo rebukes State Dept. for relative inaction regarding Jewish refugees.
1944	CASOC renamed Arabian American Oil Co.(Aramco).
1944	Jewish Brigade formed as part of British forces.
1944	FDR establishes War Refugee Board. For most victims of Nazism, it comes too late.
1944	Camp for Jewish war refugees is opened at Oswego, New York.
July 26, 1944	Russians arrive in the Lwow Ghetto, ridding the city of it's German occupiers, only to find the Jewish population liquidated.
November 1, 1944	Jewish singer/songwriter Richard "Kinky" Friedman is born.
1939/1942-1945	The Nazi German Holocaust against Jews.
1945	International tribunal for war crimes is established at Nuremberg.
1945	Bess Myerson becomes the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America Pageant.
1945	Covenant of League of Arab States, emphasizing Arab character of Palestine, signed in Cairo by Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen.
1945	United Nations established.
1945	President Truman asks Britain to allow 100,000 Jews into Palestine.
1945	Arab League Council decides to boycott goods produced by Zionist firms in Palestine.
March 22, 1945	Two convicted members of the Stern Gang hanged for Murder of Lord Moyne in Cairo prison.
November 3, 1945	Winningest Jewish MLB player in history, Ken Holtzman, is born.
January 19, 1946	Member of Jewish underground destroyed a power station and a portion of the Central Jerusalem prison by explosives. Two persons were killed by the police..
January 20, 1946	Jewish underground members launched an attack against the British-controlled Givat Olga Coast Guard Station located between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Ten persons were injured and one was killed. Captured papers indicated that the purpose of this raid was to take revenge on the British for their seizure of the refugee ship on January 18. British military authorities in Jerusalem questioned 3,000 Jews and held 148 in custody..
April 25, 1946	Jewish underground attacked a British military installation near Tel Aviv. This group which contained a number of young girls, had as its goal the capture of British weapons. British authorities rounded up 1,200 suspects..
June 24, 1946	The Irgun radio "Fighting Zion" wams that three kidnapped British officers are held as hostages for two Irgun members, Josef Simkohn and Issac Ashbel facing execution as well as 31 Irgun members facing trial..
June 27, 1946	Thirty Irgun members are sentenced by a British military court to 15 years in prison. One, Benjamin Kaplan, was sentenced to life for carrying a firearm..
June 29, 1946	British military units and police raided Jewish settlements throughout Palestine searching for the leaders of Haganah. The Jewish Agency for Palestine was occupied and four top official arrested. .
July 1, 1946	British officials announced the discovery of a large arms dump hidden underground at Meshek Yagur. 2659 men and 59 women were detained fo the three day operation in which 27 settlements were searched. Four were killed and 80 were injured..
July 3, 1946	Palestine High Commissioner, Lt. General Sir Alan Cunningham commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences of Josef Simkhon and lssac Ashbel, Irgun members.
July 4, 1946	Tel Aviv. British officers, Captains K Spencer, C. Warburton and A. Taylor who had been kidnapped by Irgun on June 18 and held as hostages for the lives of Simkohn and Ashbel, were released in Tel Aviv unharmed. At this time, Irgun issued a declaration of war against the British claiming that they had no alternative but to fight. .
July 22, 1946	The west wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem which housed British Military Headquarters and other governmental offices was destroyed at 12:57 PM by explosives planted in the cellar by members of the Irgun terrorist gang. By the 26 of July, the casualties were 76 persons killed, 46 injured and 29 still missing in the rubble. The dead included many British, Arabs and Jews. .
July 24, 1946	London. The British government released a White Paper that accuses the Haganah, Irgun and Stern gangs of "a planned movement of sabotage and violence" under the direction of the Jewish Agency and asserts that the June 29 arrest of Zionist leaders was the cause of the bombing.
July 28, 1946	The British Palestine Commander, Lt. General Sir Evelyn Barker, banned fraternization by British troops with Palestine Jews whom he stated "cannot be absolved of responsibility for terroristic acts." The order states that this will punish "the race . . . by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt for them." .
July 29, 1946	Police in Tel Aviv raided a workshop making bombs..
July 30, 1946	Tel Aviv is placed under a 22hour-a-day curfew as 20,000 British troops began a house-to-house sweep for members of the Jewish underground. The city is sealed off and troops are ordered to shoot to kill any curfew violators.
July 31, 1946	A large cache of weapons, extensive counterfeiting equipment and $1,000,000 in counterfeit Government bonds were discovered in Tel Aviv's largest synagogue. Also, two ships have arrived at Haifa with a total of 3,200 illegal Jewish immigrants. .
August 2, 1946	British military authorities ended the curfew in Tel Aviv after detaining 500 persons for further questioning..
August 12, 1946	The British Government announced that it will allow no more unscheduled immigration into Palestine and that those seeking entry into that country will be sent to Cyprus and other areas under detention. Declaring that such immigration threatens a civil war with the Arab population, it charges a "minority of Zionist extremists" with attempting to force an unacceptable solution of the Palestine problem..
August 12, 1946	Two ships carrying a total of 1,300 Jewish refugees arrived at Haifa. The port area was isolated on August 11 by British military and naval units. The first deportation ship sailed for Cyprus with 500 Jews on board.
August 13, 1946	Three Jews were killed and seven wounded when British troops were compelled to fire on a crowd of about 1,000 persons trying to break into the port area of Haifa. Two Royal Navy ships with 1,300 illegal Jewish immigrants on board sailed for Cyprus. Another ship with 600 illegal immigrants was captured and confined in the Haifa harbor. .
August 26, 1946	British military units searched the coastal villages of Casera and Sadoth Yarn for three Jews who bombed the transport "Empire Rival" last week. Eighty-five persons, including the entire male population of one of the villages were sent to the Rafa detention center..
August 29, 1946	Jerusalem. the British Government announced the commutation to life imprisonment of the death sentences imposed on 18 Jewish youths convicted of bombing the Haifa railroad shops..
August 30, 1946	British military units discovered arms and munitions dumps in the Jewish farming villages of Dorot and Ruhama.
Sept. 8, 1946	Jewish underground members cut the Palestine railroad in 50 places..
Sept. 9, 1946	Tel Aviv. two British officers were killed in an explosion in a public building..
Sept. 10, 1946	British troops imposed a curfew and arrested 101 Jews and wounded two in a search for saboteurs in Tel Aviv and neighboring Ramat Gan. Irgun took the action against the railways on September 8, as a protest..
Sept. 14, 1946	Jewish underground members robbed three banks in Jaffa and Tel Aviv, killing three Arabs. Thirty-six Jews were arrested..
Sept. 15, 1946	Jewish underground attacks a police station on the coast near Tel Aviv but were driven off by gunfire. .
October 2, 1946	British military units and police seized 50 Jews in a Tel Aviv cafe after a Jewish home was blown up. This home belonged to a Jewish woman who had refused to pay extortion money to the Irgun. .
October 6, 1946	Jerusalem. An RAF man was killed by gunfire..
October 8, 1946	Two British soldiers were killed when their truck detonated a kind mine outside Jerusalem. A leading Arab figure was wounded in a similar mine explosion in Jerusalem and more mad mines were found near Government House..
October 15, 1946	Nazi Party leader Herman Goering committs suicide by ingesting a cyanide capsule the night before he is due to be hung following the Nuremberg Trials.
October 16, 1946	Executions of those convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.
October 23, 1946	First ever meeting of the United Nations in New York City.
October 25, 1946	20 German physicians are charged by the United States with war crimes and crimes against humanity, for their role in human experimentation at Nazi concentration camps.
October 31, 1946	The British Embassy in Rome was damaged by a bomb, believed to have been phased by Jewish underground members. Irgun took responsibility for the bombing on November 4..
November 3, 1946	Two Jews and two Arabs were killed in clashes between Arabs and a group of Jews attempting to establish a settlement at Lake Hula in northern Palestine. .
November 5, 1946	British authorities released the following eight Jewish Agency leaders from the Latrun concentration camp where they had been held since June 29: Moshe Shertok, Dr. Issac Greenbaum, Dr. Bernard Joseph, David Remiz, David Hacohen, David Shingarevsky, Joseph Shoffman and Mordecai Shatter. A total of 2,550 Haganah suspects have also been released as well as 779 Jews arrested in the wake of the King David bombing. .
November 7, 1946	Railroad traffic was suspended hr 24 hours throughout Palestine following a fourth Irgun attack on railway facilities in two days.
November 9-13, 1946	Nineteen persons, eleven British soldiers and policemen and eight Arab constables, were killed in Palestine during this period as Jewish underground members, using land mines and suitcase bombs, increased their attacks on railroad stations, trains and even streetcars. .
Nov. 14, 1946	London. The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Jewish underground groups who threatened to export their attacks to England. .
Nov. 18, 1946	Police in Tel Aviv attacked Jews, assaulting many and firing into houses. Twenty Jews were injured in fights with British troops following the death on November 17 of three policemen and an RAF sergeant in a land mine explosion..
Nov. 20, 1946	Five persons were injured when a bomb exploded in the Jerusalem tax office. .
Dec. 2-5, 1946	Ten persons, including six British soldiers, were killed in bomb and land-mine explosions. .
Dec. 3, 1946	A member of the Stern Gang was killed in an aborted hold-up attempt. .
Dec. 26, 1946	Armed Jewish underground members raided two diamond factories in Nathanya and Tel Aviv and escaped with nearly $107,000 in diamonds, cash and bonds. These raids signaled an end to a two-week truce during the World Zionist Congress..
1947	Partition of India and Pakistan.
January 1, 1947	Dov Gruner was sentenced to hang by a British military court for taking part in a raid on the Ramat Gan police headquarters in April of 1946. .
January 2, 1947	Jewish underground staged bombings and machine gun attacks in five cities. Casualties were low. Pamphlets seized warned that the Irgun had again declared war against the British. .
January 4, 1947	Jerusalem. British soldiers have been ordered to wear sidearms at all times and were forbidden to enter any cafe or restaurant. .
January 5, 1947	Eleven British troops were injured in a hand grenade attack on a train carrying troops to Palestine. The attack took place near Benha, 25 miles from Cairo..
January 8, 1947	British police arrested 32 persons suspected of being members of the Irgun's "Black Squad" in raids on Rishomel Zion and Rehoboth. .
January 12, 1947	One underground member drove a truck filled with high explosives into the central police station and exploded it, killing two British policemen and two Arab constables and injuring 140 others, and escaped. This action ended a 10-day lull in the violence and the Stern Gang took the credit for it. .
January 14, 1947	Yehudi Katz is sentenced to life in prison by a Jerusalem court for robbing a bank in Jaffa in September of 1946 to obtain funds for the underground..
January 22, 1947	Sir Harry Gumey, Chief Secretary, stated that the British administration was taxing Palestine $2,400,000 to pay for sabotage by the Jewish underground groups. .
January 22, 1947	Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones informed the House of Commons 73 British subjects were murdered by underground members in 1946 and "no culprits have been convicted." .
January 27, 1947	London. Britain's conference on Palestine, boycotted by the Jews, reconvened. Jamal el Husseini, Palestine Arab leader, declared that the Arab world was unalterably opposed to partition as a solution to the problem. The session then adjourned..
January 29, 1947	London. It was officially announced that the British Cabinet decided to partition Palestine. .
January 29, 1947	Irgun forces released former Maj. H. Collins, a British banker, who they kidnaped on January 26 from his home. He had been badly beaten. On January 28, the Irgun released Judge Ralph Windham, who had been kidnapped in Tel Aviv on January 27 while trying a case. These men had been taken as hostages for Dov Bela Gruner, an Irgun member under death sentence. The British High Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Sir Alan Cunningham, had threatened martial law unless the two men were returned unharmed. .
January 31, 1947	General Cunningham ordered the wives and children of all British civilians to leave Palestine at once. About 2,000 are involved. This order did not apply to the 5,000 Americans in the country..
February 3, 1947	The Palestine Govemment issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Jewish Agency demanding that it state "categorically and at once" whether it and the supreme Jewish Council in Palestine will call on the Jewish community by February 10 for "cooperation with the police and armed forces in bringing to justice the members of the terrorist groups." This request was publicly rejected by Mrs. Goldie Meyerson, head of the Jewish Agency's political department. .
February 4, 1947	British Oistrict Commissioner James Pollock disclosed a plan for military occupation of three sectors of Jerusalem and orders nearly 1,000 Jews to evacuate the Rehavia, Schneler and German quarters by noon, February 6.
February 5, 1947	The Vaad Leumi rejected the British ultimatum while the Irgun passed out leaflets that it was prepared to fight to the death against the British authority. The first 700 of some 1,500 British women and children ordered to evacuate Palestine leave by plane and train for Egypt. British authorities, preparing for military action, order other families from sections of Tel Aviv and Haifa which will be turned into fortified military areas.
February 9, 1947	British troops removed 650 illegal Jewish immigranS from the schooner "Negev" at Haifa and after a struggle forced them aboard the ferry "Emperor Haywood" for deportation to Cyprus. .
February 14, 1947	The British administration revealed that Lt. Gen. Sir Evelyn Barker, retiring British commander in Palestine, had confirmed the death sentences of three Irgun members on February 12 before leaving for England. The three men, Dov Ben Rosenbaum, Eliezer Ben Kashani and Mordecai Ben Alhachi, had been sentenced on February 10 to be hanged for carrying firearms. A fourth, Haim Gorovetzky, received a life sentence because of his youth. Lt. Gen. G. MacMillian arrived in Jerusalem on February 13 to succeed Gen. Barker. .
February 15, 1947	The Sabbath was the setting for sporadic outbreaks of violence which included the murder of an Arab in Jaffa and of a Jew in B'nai B'rak, the kidnapping of a Jew in Petah Tikvah and the burning of a Jewish club in Haifa.
March 9, 1947	Hadera. A British army camp was attacked..
March 10, 1947	Haifa. A Jew, suspected of being an informer, was murdered by Jewish underground members..
March 12, 1947	The British Army pay corps was dynamited in Jerusalem and one soldier killed. .
March 12, 1947	British military units captured most of the 800 Jews whose motor ship "Susanne" ran the British blockade and was beached north of Gaza on this date. A British naval escort brought the "Ben Hecht," the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation's first known immigrant ship, into Haifa, and its 599 passengers were shipped to Cyprus. The British arrested the crew, which included 18 US. seamen..
March 13, 1947	British authorities announced 78 arrests as a result of unofficial Jewish cooperation, but two railroads were attacked, resulting in two deaths, and eight armed men robbed a Tel Aviv bank of $65,000. .
March 14, 1947	Jewish underground members blew up part of an oil pipeline in Haifa and a section of the rail line near Beer Yakou .
March 17, 1947	British authorities ended marshal law which had kept 300,000 Jews under house arrest for 16 days and tied up most economic activity..
March 17, 1947	A military court sentenced Moshe Barazani to be hanged for possessing a hand grenade. .
March 18, 1947	Underground leaflets admitted the murder of Michael Shnell on Mount Carmel as an informer. .
March 22, 1947	British officials announced the arrest of five known underground members, and the discovery near Petah Tikvah of the body of Leon Meshiah, a Jew presumably slain as a suspected informer. .
March 28, 1947	The Irgun blew up the Iraq Petroleum Co. pipeline in Haifa..
March 29, 1947	A British army officer was killed by Jewish underground membesr when they ambushed a party of horsemen near the Ramle camp. A raid on a Tel Aviv bank yielded $109,000. .
March 30, 1947	Units of the British Royal Navy, answering an SOS, took the disabled " Moledeth" with 1,600 illegal Jewish refugees on board under tow some 50 miles outside Palestinian waters. .
March 31, 1947	Jewish underground members dynamited the British-owned Shell-Mex oil tanks in Haifa, starting a fire that destroyed a quarter-mile of the waterfront. The damage was set at more than $1,000,000, and the British government in Palestine has stated that the Jewish community will have to pay for it. .
April 2, 1947	The "Ocean Vigour" was damaged by a bomb in Famagusta Harbor, Cyprus. The Haganah admitted the bombing. .
April 3, 1947	A court in Jerusalem sentenced Daniel Azulai and Meyer Feinstein, members of the Irgun, to death for the October 30 attack on the Jerusalem railroad station. The Palestine Supreme Court admitted an appeal of Dov Bela Gruner's death sentence.
April 3, 1947	The transport "Empire Rival" was damaged by a time bomb while en route from Haifa to Port Said in Egypt. .
April 7, 1947	The High Court denied a new appeal against the death sentence of Dov Bela Gruner, and a British patrol killed Moshe Cohen. .
April 8, 1947	Jewish undergroud members killed a British constable in revenge for the Cohen death..
April 10, 1947	London. The British Government requested France and Italy to prevent Jews from embarking for Palestine. .
April 11, 1947	Jerusalem. Asher Eskovitch, a Jew, was beaten to death by Muslims when he entered the forbidden Mosque of Omar. .
April 13, 1947	Guela Cohen, Stern Gang illegal broadcaster, escaped from a British military hospital..
April 14, 1947	A British naval unit boarded the refugee ship "Guardian" and seized it along with 2,700 passengers after a gun battle in which two immigrants were killed and 14 wounded..
April 16, 1947	In spite of threats of reprisal from the Irgun, the British hanged Dov Bela Gruner and three other Irgun members at Acre Prison on Haifa Bay. Jewish communities were kept under strict curfew for several hours. Soon after the deaths were announced, a time bomb was found in the Colonial Office in London but was defused..
April 17, 1947	Lt. Gen. G. Macmillan confirmed death sentences for two more convicted underground members, Meier Ben Feinstein and Moshe Ben Barazani, but reduced Daniel Azulai's sentence to life imprisonment. .
April 18, 1947	Irgun's reprisals for the Gruner execution were an attack on a field dressing station near Nethanaya where one sentry was killed, an attack on an armored car in Tel Aviv where one bystander was killed and harmless shots at British troops in Haifa. .
April 20, 1947	A series of bombings by Jewish underground members in retaliation for the hanging of Gruner injured 12 British soldiers..
April 21, 1947	Meir Feinstein and Moshe Barazani killed themselves in prison a few hours before they were scheduled to be hanged. They blew themselves up with bombs smuggled to them in hollowed-out oranges. .
April 22, 1947	A troop train arriving from Cairo was bombed outside Rehovoth with five soldiers and three civilians killed and 39 persons injured.
April 23, 1947	The British First Lord of the Admiralty, Viscount Hall, defended the Labor Government's policy in Palestine and he acknowledged in the House of Lords that Britain would not "carry out a policy of which it did not approve" despite any UN action. He blamed contributions from American Jews to the Jewish Palestinians as aiding the underground groups there and cited the toll since August 1, 1945: 113 killed, 249 wounded, 168 Jews convicted, 28 sentenced to death, four executed, 33 slain in battles. Viscount Samuel urged increased immigration. .
April 23, 1947	The Irgun proclaimed its own "military courts" to "try" British troops and policemen who resisted them. .
April 25, 1947	A Stern Gang squad drove a stolen post office truck loaded with explosives into the Sarona police compound and detonated it, killing five British policemen. .
April 26, 1947	Haifa. The murder of Deputy Police Superintendent A. Conquest climaxed a week of bloodshed. .
May 4, 1947	The walls of Acre prison were blasted open by an Irgun bomb squad and 251 Jewish and Arab prisoners escaped after a gun battle in which 15 Jews and 1 Arab were killed, 32 (including six British guards) were injured and 23 escapists were recaptured. The Palestine Govemment promised no extra punishment if the 189 escapees still at large will surrender. .
May 4, 1947	The Political Action Committee for Palestine ran a series of advertisements in New York newspapers seeking funds to buy parachutes for young European Jews planning to crash the Palestine irnmigration barrier by air. .
May 8, 1947	A Jew was ambushed and shot to death by an Arab group near Tel Aviv, and three Jewish owned Tel Aviv shops whose owners refused to contribute money to Jewish underground groups were burned down. .
May 12, 1947	Jewish underground members killed two British policemen..
May 12, 1947	The British authorities announced that 312 Jewish political prisoners were held in Kenya, East Africa, 20 in Latrun and 34 in Bethlehem..
May 15, 1947	The Stern Gang killed two British lieutenants and injured seven other persons with two derailments and three badge demolitions..
May 16, 1947	Haifa Assistant Police Superintendent, Robert Schindler, a German Jew, was killed by the Stern gang, and a British constable was killed on the Mt Carmel-Haifa road near Jerusalem..
May 17, 1947	The 1,200 ton Haganah freighter "Trade Winds" was seized by the Royal Navy off the Lebanon coast and escorted into Haifa, and over 1,000 illegal immigrants were disembarked pending transfer to Cyprus. .
May 19, 1947	The British government protested to the United States government against American fund-raising drives for Jewish underground groups. The complaint referred to a "Letter to the Terrorists of Palestine" by playwright Ben Hecht, American League for a Free Palestine co chairman, first published in the New York "Post" on May 15. The ad said, "We are out to raise millions for you.".
May 22, 1947	Arabs attacked a Jewish labor camp in the south, retaliating for a Haganah raid on the Arabs near Tel Aviv May 20. Some 40,000 Arab and Jewish workers united the same day in a one day strike against all establishments operated by the British War Ministry..
May 23, 1947	A British naval party boarded the immigrant ship "Mordei Haghettoath" off South Palestine and took control of its 1,500 passengers. Two British soldiers were convicted in Jerusalem of abandoning a jeep and army mail under attack..
May 28, 1947	Syria. Fawzi el-Kawukji who spent the war years in Germany after leading the 1936-39 Arab revolt in Palestine, told reporters in Damascus that an unfavorable decision by the UN inquiry group would be the signal for war against the Jews in Palestine. "We must prove that in case" of an Anglo-American war with Russia, "we can be more dangerous or useful to them than the Jews," he added. .
May 28, 1947	Jewish underground members blew up a water main and a shed in the Haifa oil dock areas and made three attacks on railway lines in the Lydda and Haifa areas..
May 31, 1947	The Haganah ship "Yehuda Halevy" arrived under British naval escort with 399 illegal Jewish immigrants; they were immediately transferred to Cyprus..
June 4, 1947	The Stern Gang sent letter bombs to high British governmental officials. Eight letter bombs containing powdered explosives were discovered in London. Recipients included Ernest Bevin, Anthony Eden, Prime Minister Attlee and Winston Churchill..
June 5, 1947	Washington. President Truman asked all persons in the US to refrain from helping Jewish underground groups. The American Jewish Committee and Jewish Labor Committee condemned Ben Hecht's campaign..
June 6, 1947	New York Secretary General of the UN, Trygve Lie has forwarded a request to all countries a request by the British that they guard their fronties against departure of illegal immigrants bound for Palestine.
June 18, 1947	Haganah disclosed that one of its men was killed by a booby trap which foiled an Irgun plot to blow up British Military Headquartes in Tel Aviv. .
June 28, 1947	The Stern Gang opened fire on British soldiers waiting in line outside a Tel Aviv theater, killing three and wounding two. Another Briton is killed and several wounded in a Haifa hotel. This action was claimed by Jewish underground members to be in retaliation for British brutality and the alleged slaying of a missing 16 year old Jew, Alexander Rubowitz while he was being held in an Army barracks on May 6. .
June 29, 1947	New York. The UN Committee votes 9-0 to condemn the acts as "flagrant disregard" of the UN appeal for an interim truce as Stern Gang wounded four more Bdtish soldiers on a beach at Herzlia. Major Roy Alexander Farran surrendered voluntarily after his escape from custody in Jerusalem on June 19. He had been arrested in connection with the Rubowitz case. .
June 30, 1947	The Palestine goverrunent permitted oil companies to raise paces of benzine nearly 10% to pay for $1 million damage suffered when Jewish underground members blew up oil installations at Haifa on March 31. .
July 2, 1947	lrgun members robbed a Haifa bank of $3,200 while both the Stem gang and the Irgun warned the British that their provocative acts in Palestine must end before a truce can be effected. The Guaternalan and Czech members of the UN Commission visited two Jewish convicts in Acre Prison..
July 12, 1947	Dr. Adem Altman, president of the United Zionist Revisionists, told a party rally in Jerusalem that the Revisionists would settle for nothing less than an unpartitioned free Jewish state in Palestine and Trans-Jordan. Irgun announced in Jerusalem that two British sergeants kidnaped in Nathanaya are being held in Tel Aviv and have been sentenced to death by Irgun courtmartial. .
July 14, 1947	Netanya. The British imposed mastial law and placed the 15,000 inhabitants of Netanya under house arrest. They made 68 arrests and sentenced 21 persons to 6 months each in the Latrun detention camp. .
July 17, 1947	Netanya. The Irgun in five mine operations against military traffic to and from Nathanya killed one Briton and injured 16. .
July 18, 1947	Steamer Exodus repelled by forces from shores of Palestine, (formerly the "President Warfield") was escorted into Haifa by British naval units after a battle, William Bernstein and two immigrants were killed and more than 30 injured. The blockade runner itself was badly damaged. The remainder of the 4,554 passengers, the largest group of illegal immigrants to sail for Palestine in a sister ship, were put aboard British prison ships for removal to Cyprus. The American captain, Bernard Marks, and his crew were arrested. The ship sailed from France.
July 19, 1947	Haifa. Rioting, quickly suppressed, broke out among the passengess of the "Exodus 1947" when they learned they were to be resumed to France. .
July 19, 1947	The Palestine Government charges that a Jewish "campaign of lawlessness, murder and sabotage" has cost 70 lives and $6 million in damage since 1940. .
July 21, 1947	Before officially admitting that 4,529 passengers of the "Exodus 1947" who had been transferred to three British ships, were being sent not to Cyprus but back to France, the Palestine Government took the precaution of first placing Jesusalem's 90,000 Jews under nightly house arrest. .
July 23, 1947	Haganah sank the British tansport "Empire Lifeguard" in Haifa harbor as it was discharging 300 Jewish immigrants who had officiallyy been admitted to Palestine under quota. Sixty-five immigrants were killed and 40 were wounded. The British were able to refloat the ship..
July 26, 1947	Jewish underground members blew up the Iraqi Petroleum Co. pipeline 12 miles east of Haifa and destroyed a Mt. Carmel radar station..
July 27, 1947	An ambush and mines cost the British seven more casualties, all wounded..
July 28, 1947	Two small Haganah ships loaded with 1,174 Jews from North Africa were intercepted by British naval units off Palestine and brought into Haifa. The illegal immigrants were transshipped aboard British transports and taken to Cyprus..
July 29, 1947	The British authorities hanged three Irgunists in Acre prison despite appeals from Jewish leaders. The condemned, Myer Nakar, Absalom Habib and Jacob Weiss, had fought in the Czech underground during the war. They were convicted of blowing up Acre Prison on May 4 and liberating 200 Arabs and Jews. .
July 29, 1947	The 4,429 Exodus 1947 illegal immigrants who sailed from Sete, France, July 11 for Palestine only to be shipped back by the British aboard three transports, refused to debark as the vessels anchored off Port de Douc, France. Only a few who were aboard went ashore. The French government informed the refugees that they do not have to debark but will be welcomed if they do. The transports are the "Runnymede Park," "Ocean Vigour" and "Empire Valour.".
July 30, 1947	Irgun members announced that they have handed two British sergeants, Marvyn Paice and Clifford Martin, whom they had held as hostages since duly 12, for "crimes against the Jewish community." The two were seized when death sentences on the three Irgun members were confirmed by the British authorities. Two more British soldiers were killed by a land mine near Hadera. British troops attacked the Jewish colony of Pardes Hanna in revenge for the murders..
July 31, 1947	The bodies of the two murdered Bdtish sergeants were found hanging from eucalyptus trees one and a half miles from Netanya about 5:30 AM. A booby trap blew Martin's body to bits when it was cut down. Enraged British troops stormed into Tel Aviv, wrecked shops, attacked pedestrians and sprayed a bus with gunfire killing five Jews: two men, two women and a boy..
August 1, 1947	Thirty-three Jews are injured in an anti-British riot at Tel Aviv during the funeral procession of five civilians killed by British soldiers on July 31. In Jerusalem a Jewish underground attack on the British security zone in Rehavia was repulsed with one attacker killed and two captured..
August 2, 1947	The body of an unidentified Jew was found on a road near Tel Aviv. He was believed to have been kidnapped by men in British uniforms two weeks ago. Total casualties in Palestine since mid-July: 25 persons slain, 144 wounded. The dead include 15 Britons, two Jewish underground membmers, eight civilians. Anti-British slogans, swastikas and dollar signs are painted onto British consulates in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.
August 3, 1947	The Bank of Sharon in Ramat Gan was robbed by Jewish underground, $8,000 stolen..
August 4, 1947	An Irgun leader in Paris states that his organization has sentenced high British military and civilian offficials in Palestine to death "in absentia" and will hang them upon capture..
August 5, 1947	Striking at dawn, British security forces arrested 35 leading Zionists and sent them to the Latrun detention camp in an attempt to wipe out the Irgun leadership.In reprisal, Irgunists blew up the Department of Labor in Jerusalem, killing three British constables. Those arrested included Mayor Israel Rokach of Tel Aviv; Mayor Oved Ben Ami of Nathanya; Mayor Abraham Kdnitzki of Ramat Gan; Adeh Altman, president of the radical Revisionist Party; Menahem Arber, leader of the Revisionist youth organization, B'rith Trumpeldor, which is outlawed; Max Kritzman, Dov Bela Gruner's attomey, and David Stem, brother of the late founder of the Stern Gang. All those arrested except the three mayors were Revisionists. Among many papers confiscated was correspondence from Soviet Russian agents in Italy and Bulgaria and extensive plans to poison the water supply of the non-Jewish parts of Jerusalem with botulism and other bacteria. Bacteria was supplied by Soviet sources through Bulgaria.
August 15, 1947	A mine derailed a Cairo-Haifa troop train north of Lydda, killing the engineer, and Irgunist claimed the incident was part of its campaign to disrupt all the Palestine rail traffic. .
August 16, 1947	Arab-Jewish clashes have brought death to 12 Arabs and 13 Jews and heavy property destruction this week in the regions of Jewish Tel Aviv and Arab Jaffa. Strife was renewed on august 10 when Arabs killed four Jews in a Tel Aviv cafe, in reprisal for the deaths of two Arabs in a Haganah raid in Fega two months ago. Haganah responded to the Arab actions by bombing a house in an Arab orange grove near Tel Aviv, killing eleven Arabs, including a woman and four children. .
August 18, 1947	The shops of five Jewish merchants in Tel Aviv were destroyed by the Irgun because the owners refused to give money to that organization. .
Sept. 9, 1947	Hamburg, Germany. In a bitter three hour fight aboard the "Runnymede Park," 350 British troops completed a two-day forced debarkation of 4,300 "Exodus 1947" illegal Jewish refugees from three ships in Hamburg, Germany. First ashore yesterday were the "Ocean Vigour's" 1,406; a few put up token resistance and five passengers sustained minor injuries. Early today, the "Empire Rival's" 1,420 passengers debarked peaceably after a home made bomb was found in the ship's hold. .
Sept. 10, 1947	Washington D.C. Secretary of State George C. Marshall disclosed that the US had urged Britain to reconsider sending the "Exodus" group to Germany, but Britain replied tht there were no facilities for housing them elsewhere because the French did not want them and there were a number of vacant detention camps in Germany. .
Sept. 11, 1947	Paris. The French government has now announced tht it would admit the '`Exodus" refugees if they were not forcibly deported from Germany and on the understanding that they will be admitted eventually to Palestine. .
October 13, 1947	A terrorist bomb damaged the US. consulate general in Jerusalem, injuring two employees slightly. Similar bombings occurred at the Polish consulate general last night and at the Swedish consulate on September 27. .
Nov. 14, 1947	Jewish underground members killed two British policemen in Jerusalem and two soldiers in Tel Aviv to raise the total casualties in three days of violence to 10 Britons and five Jews killed, and 33 Britons and five Jews wounded. The outbreaks began after British troops killed three girls and two boys in a raid on a farmhouse arsenal near Raanana on November 12. The underground retaliated yesterday by throwing hand grenades and firing a machine gun into the Ritz Cafe in Jerusalem. .
Nov. 16, 1947	About 185 European Jews landed near Netanya from a small schooner and escaped before the British could intercept them. A larger vessel, the "Kadimah," was seized and brought to Haifa where 794 Jews were transshipped to a British transport for Cyprus..
Nov. 17, 1947	The British administration disclosed that it will sell state owned real estate along the Haifa waterfront, from which it expects to make $8 million. It will also invest in England about $16 million from bonds that had been sold to Palestinians. Zionists strongly protested this as they said it would denude Palestine of its assets. There was no comment from the administration to these charges. .
Nov. 22, 1947	An Arab was killed in Haifa by the Stern Gang following the killings of four other Arabs near Raanana on November 20..
Dec. 1, 1947	The Arab League announced on December 1 that premiers and foreign ministers of seven Arab states would meet in Cairo next week to plan strategy against partition. In Palestine: Jerusalem and the Jaffa Tel Aviv boundary zone were centers of week-long strife which began when seven Jews were killed throughout Palestine on November 30 and the mayor of Nablus, Arab nationalist center, proclaimed jihad or a holy war. British High Commissioner Sir Alan Cunningham warned the Arab Higher Command on December 1 that Britain was determined to keep order so long as it held its mandate, and police stopped Arab agitators from raising crowds in Jerusalem..
Dec. 2, 1947	Arabs looted and burned a three block Jewish business district in Jerusalem on December 2, the first day of a three day Arab general strike during which 20 Jews and 15 Arabs were killed. When British troops failed to intervene, Haganah came into the open for the first time in eight years to restrain large scale Jewish retaliation and also guard Jewish districts. Some Haganah men were arrested for possessing weapons. The day's strife caused $1 million worth of damage and resulted in a 21 hour curfew being applied to Arab Jerusalem for the rest of the week. The curfew was extended to outlying roads on December 3 to stop stonings of Jewish traffic and keep rural Arabs out of the capital. Max Pinn, head of the Jewish Agency's Trade and Transfer Deparunent was killed on December 2 when Arabs stoned his auto near Ramleh On this day dews stoned Arab buses in Jerusalem. On December 2, Haganah claimed to have mobilized 10,000 men in the intercity trouble zone, and the Arab Legion of Trans-Jordan reported on this date that it had reinforced Jaffa. Seven Jews were killed in Jaffa-Tel Aviv on this date. There were lesser attacks in Haifa this week. Also, the Syrian Parliament enacted a draft law and voted $860,000 for the relief of Palestinian Arabs. On the same day Arabs attacked the Jewish part of Aleppo. .
Dec. 3, 1947	On the Jaffa-Tel Aviv boundary, which also is under around-the clock curfew, the week's heaviest battle was a six-hour clash between Haganah and Arabs on December 3 in which seven Jews and five Arabs were killed and 75 persons injured. .
Dec. 5, 1947	The United States Department of State announced on December 5,1947 that they were placing an embargo on all American arms shipments to the Middle East. On December 5, British military reinforcements were sent to Aden after four days of Arab-Jewish fighting in which 50 Jews and 25 Arabs were killed. .
Dec. 13, 1947	On December 13, bombings by the Irgun killed at least 16 Arabs and injured 67 more in Jerusalem and Jaffa and burned down a hundred Arab houses in Jaffa. In Syria, an anti-Jewish attack in rebaliation for the Irgun actions burned down a 2,750-year old synagogue in Aleppo and destroyed the priceless Ben-Asher Codex, a 10th century Hebrew Bible of original Old Testament manuscripts. .
Dec. 14, 1947	Regular troops of the Arab Legion of the Trans-Jordan Army killed 14 Jews and wounded nine Jews, two British soldiers and one Arab when they atbcked a bus convoy approaching their camp near Lydda. The Arabs said the Jews attacked them first. .
Dec. 17, 1947	British troops came to the aid of police sending off a raid by 100 Arabs on the Jewish settlement of Nevatim, seven miles west of Beersheba..
Dec. 18, 1947	Haganah killed 10 Arabs in a reprisal raid on Khisas in the north of the country..
Dec. 19, 1947	Reliable reports from Damascus state that Arab guerrillas are massing there in preparation to launching an attack into Palestine before the first of the year. .
Dec. 20, 1947	Haganah carried out another said on Arabs by atbcking the village of Qazasa near Rehovoth. One Arab was killed and two were wounded. .
Dec. 25, 1947	Emir Mohammed Zeinati, an Arab landowner, was killed in Haifa for selling land to the Jews. Stern gang members machine-gunned two British soldiers in a Tel Aviv cafe. .
Dec. 26, 1947	Armed Jewish underground members raided two diamond factories in Netanya and Tel Aviv and escaped with $107,000 in diamonds, cash and bonds. The Stern gang distributed leaflets reporting that Israel Levin, a member, was killed in Tel Aviv on December 24 for trying to betray a Stern Gang member. .
Dec. 29, 1947	Irgun members kidnaped and flogged a Briitish major and thzee sergeans in rebliation for the flogging of Benjamin Kimkhim who was also sentenced to 18 years in prison on December 27 for robbing a bank. The major, E. Brett, was seized in Netanya and the sergeants in Tel Aviv and Rishon el Siyon. Each got 18 lashes, the same number Kimkhim seceived. An Irgun bombing at the Damascus Gate in Jesusalem killed 11 Arabs and two Britons. .
Dec. 30, 1947	The Dollis Hill Synagogue in London was set on fire and 12 sacred scrolls wese destroyed by argry British citizens..
1947	UN proposes the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in the Land.
1947	Arab Higher Committee for Palestine rejects UN Partition Plan.
1947	Three Jews are hanged for involvement in Acre Prison break and two British sergeants are executed in reprisal.
1947	Scrolls dating from approximately 22 B.C.E. are discovered at Qumran, near the Dead Sea.
1947	Construction begins on Tapline for Saudi oil.
January 4, 1948	A series of bombings inflicted heavy Arab casualties.14 were killed and 100 injured when the Stern gang destroyed the Arab National Committee headquarters in Jaffa. .
January 5, 1948	Jerusalem. 15 Arabs were killed after Haganah bombed the Semirarnis Hotel..
January 7, 1948	14 Arabs were killed by two Irgun bombs at Jerusalem's Jaffa gate.
January 12, 1948	Stem gang members looted Barclay's Bank in Tel Aviv of $37,000.
January 13, 1948	The U.S. War Assets Administration received orders from Army Secretary Kenneth Royal to cancel its sale of 199 tons of M-3 explosive to a purchasing agent of the Jewish Agency, which got 73 tons out of the country before the rest was seized
Jan. 14-15, 1948	The FBI arrested six New York men on charges of trying to ship Haganah 60,000 pounds of TNT, which was seized in Jersey Gty after having been bought from the Letterkenny Arsenal Ordnance Depot in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
January 25, 1948	Following the deaths of ten Jews and two Arabs killed in a battle outside Jerusalem, British authorities stated that 721 Arabs, 408 Jews, 19 civilians and 12 British policemen (a total of 1,160) had been killed in an eight-week period that 1,171 Arabs, 749 Jews, 13 civilians and 37 British officers had been wounded.
1948	Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum (both now ExxonMobil) buy interest in Aramco; company headquarters moved from San Francisco to New York.

[expand/decrease]

---

Modern Israel & the Diaspora
(1948-Present)

1940's | 1950's | 1960's | 1970's
1980's | 1990's | 2000's | 2010's

[expand/decrease]